‘JIAN BEI PIAN’: LAO SHE’S FORGOTTEN WARTIME EPIC POEM by Janette Briggs A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chinese Literature. VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON 2017 Abstract 'Jian bei pian': Lao She's forgotten wartime epic poem by Janette Briggs This thesis is the first English-language critical study of Chinese author Lao She’s (1899-1966) wartime epic ballad Jian bei pian and includes the ballad’s first translation into English. The thesis addresses a gap in knowledge about his work, a gap previously covered by simplistic labelling of it as patriotic propaganda. Lao She’s reputation in the West largely rests on his modern fiction, although his literary output covered many genres, generating at different times in his life the full range of reactions in China between popular acclaim and violent censure. Much of his writing, done during periods of intense cultural and political upheaval in China, reflected the events through which he lived. Jian bei pian, his poetic record of a journey through northern China during the Second Sino-Japanese War, is unique, both of its time and outside of its time, yet it has received relatively little attention from critics in China or in the West. Recent Chinese studies on Jian bei pian have highlighted the poem’s patriotic elements, retrospectively interpreting it as an endorsement of China’s Communist Party and deeming it part of his wartime nation-building literature. In the West Jian bei pian has been almost completely ignored, apart from observations which similarly focus on its imputed status as patriotic propaganda and condemn or dismiss it for that reason. This thesis evaluates the evidence for and against Jian bei pian’s significance and effectiveness as wartime propaganda by examining the poem through frameworks of nation-building theory. Textual analysis of Jian bei pian’s images of China, its narrative treatment of China’s history, and of culturally significant periods and sites, finds that the patriotic rhetoric is inconsistent. This finding echoes recent work of some Western scholars who have observed contradictions and insecurities in Lao She’s pre-war and wartime fiction that undermined his ability to convey a patriotic message. In rejecting Jian bei pian as nation-building, the thesis argues that Lao She’s writing of the poem was primarily driven by personal factors. Against the background of his recorded views, expressed motives and comments on the circumstances in which the poem was written, further textual analysis focuses on Jian bei pian’s diverse features reflecting the influence of traditional and classical elements of Chinese culture. This analysis of the poem’s composition, in both form and subject matter, highlights the importance of China’s classical poetry for Lao She, and suggests that Jian bei pian, in its travelogue depictions of a China where geography is overlaid with a sense of its history, literature and art, may belong in China’s classical jiyoushi (poems about travel) tradition – aspects of Jian bei pian recently noted by a few Chinese scholars but previously overlooked in the West. ii Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. v Map 1: Lao She’s journey as recorded in Jian bei pian .................................... vii Map 2: Lao She’s ascent of Huashan as recorded in canto 27 ............................ ix Table of Chinese dynastic periods ......................................................................... xi Table of Chinese measures .................................................................................. xiii Chapter One - Introduction ....................................................................................... 1 Historical background – war, nationalism, and national identity ..................... 14 Theoretical frameworks ........................................................................................ 26 Chapter Two – Patriotic rhetoric and nation-building in Jian bei pian .............. 35 Imagining modern China ...................................................................................... 35 Narrating China’s national identity ..................................................................... 45 Reconfiguring China’s national identity – ethno-symbols of geography and history ...................................................................................................................... 54 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 61 Chapter Three – Experimenting with tradition .................................................... 63 Writing Jian bei pian – Lao She explains his approach ..................................... 63 Challenges of blending old and new ..................................................................... 69 Traditional and classical influences – structure and substance ......................... 79 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 102 Chapter Four – Conclusion .................................................................................... 105 North of Jianmen Pass 剑北篇 ............................................................................... 113 1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 115 2 Chengdu – Jiange .......................................................................................... 119 3 Jianmen – Guangyuan .................................................................................. 125 4 Hanzhong – Marquis Liu Shrine ................................................................. 129 5 July Seventh at Marquis Liu Shrine ........................................................... 137 6 Shuangshipu – Baoji ..................................................................................... 141 7 Baoji station ................................................................................................... 147 8 Xi’an ............................................................................................................... 153 9 Tongguan ....................................................................................................... 159 10 Western Henan .......................................................................................... 167 11 Luoyang (part 1) ........................................................................................ 171 12 Luoyang (part 2) ........................................................................................ 175 13 Luoyang (part 3) ........................................................................................ 181 iii 14 Luoyang – Yexian ...................................................................................... 187 15 Nanyang ...................................................................................................... 193 16 Laohekou .................................................................................................... 199 17 Xiangfan ..................................................................................................... 203 18 Xixiakou ..................................................................................................... 209 19 Longjuzhai – Xi’an .................................................................................... 215 20 Viewing Chang’an drama ......................................................................... 221 21 Lintong – Zhongnanshan .......................................................................... 227 22 Xi’an – Central Shaanxi ........................................................................... 233 23 Central Shaanxi – Qiulin .......................................................................... 239 24 Yichuan – Qingjian ................................................................................... 247 25 Qingjian – Yulin ........................................................................................ 255 26 Yulin – Xi’an .............................................................................................. 261 27 Huashan...................................................................................................... 267 References ............................................................................................................. 275 iv Acknowledgements Many people have been part of my journey of discovering Lao She’s China. They include first of all my supervisors Dr Limin Bai and Dr Megan Evans with their insightful guidance and patient reassurance; former and current colleagues at the School of Languages and Cultures Dr Alessandro Macilenti, Dr Edwina Palmer, Dr Marco Sonzogni, Dr Mukta Dausoa, Dr Richard Millington, and Professor Yiyan Wang with their collegial encouragement, advice and example; Tony Quinn of Victoria University Library with his ever-ready help and suggestions. I owe a special debt to Duncan Campbell who first introduced me to the Chinese classics and has continued to be a source of inspiration and support with his comments on drafts of my thesis. I am grateful to my husband Phil for letting me drag him to China on our first trip then insisting we return for a second, and to my late father Rodney Owen Sinclair, who gave me his calendar of Ming and Qing dynasty scroll