History has become a fashionable subject in contemporary Chinese literature.
The most popular and eyes-catching works of the literary genre, called "History Novels", undoubtedly belong to those set in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.
According to Wu Xiuming, from the Literary College of Zhejiang University in east China's Zhejiang Province, this is partly because the conflicts and cultural and social vicissitudes in these two dynasties arguably resemble the great social and cultural changes in modern China.
Wu addressed this issue in his article, "Contemporary Historical Novels' Narratives about the Ming and Qing Dynasties," which appeared in the latest issue of the Chinese language bimonthly, Literary Review.
He gave a thorough analysis of the works of Tang Haoming, Ling Li, and Eryuehe -- three of the most successful contemporary writers of history novels.
Wu argued that their voluminous works represent the authors' efforts to reconstruct history and use it to mirror the present age.
All three writers claim that their novels are true to history.
"Listening to the voices of history and respecting it with accuracy and objectivity are the base for my history novels," Ling Li declared in a short article about her novel Mengduan Guanhe (Dreams Shattered on the Frontier River).
When talking about his historical The Setting Sun series, Eryuehe, whose real name is Ling Jiefang, claimed he "was not only loyal to the accuracy of history but also to the accuracy of literary art."
Tang Haoming said in an article on his Zeng Guofan trilogy that most of the names, family history and life experiences of the main protagonists in the trilogy "were in accordance with historical documents."
Even those sections where he used his imagination "might have happened," Tang was quoted as saying.
Writing Style
Though the artistic idiosyncrasies and aesthetic tastes of these three writers are quite different from each other, their loyalty to history helps explain why they all picked old-fashioned realism above other prevalent literary styles.
Narrating from an omnipotent perspective, the authors employ objective tones and rationales to narrate the stories of their lead characters. And painstaking research means they bear some resemblance to each character's historical biography.
But loyalty to historical fact does not prevent them from offering new interpretations of known events.
All three writers offered fresh insight into the rise and fall of their protagonists and the historical period.
Ling Li, in her The Glory of a Century series of novels, reconstructed major historical events and the lives of important historical players in the transitional century of the Ming and Qing dynasties, between 1632 and 1722.
Ling then integrated her own analysis of this historical era.
"I pay special attention to the word 'changes' when writing a lengthy novel series," she said.
Eryuehe said that he immerses himself in history as he pens his works.
According to Wu, in his narration of the court battles over the succession to the throne between the fourth prince Yinzhen, who later became Emperor Yongzheng, and the Party of the Eighth Prince, Eryuehe also provided an analysis of the political struggle and its outcome and effect upon the livelihoods of the populace and social stability.
"This analysis obviously bears the hallmark of the present age and the individual feelings of the author," Wu said.
Wu believes Tang Haoming adopted a "humanistic" approach in his depictions of major Qing Dynasty court officials.
Tang offered his own reflections and explanation of "the conflicts between the ancient and the contemporary, the Chinese and the foreign, emotion and reason, ideal and reality, individuals and groups."
Historical Criticism
Contemporary history novel writers in general are paying more attention to exploiting traditional cultural resources.
In contrast to the unreserved diatribes written against the feudal era some 20 years ago, contemporary writers seem to be more willing to find positive elements in traditional culture and aristocracies.
Under the pens of Ling Li, Tang Haoming, and Eryuehe, many controversial characters such as emperors Kangxi (1654-1722), Yongzheng (1678-1735) and Qianlong (1711-99), and famous statesmen and politicians Zeng Guofan (1811-72), Yang Du (1874-1931) and Zhang Zhidong (1837-1909), are reassessed.
They are now viewed as elites who played key roles in saving the nation from turbulence, and who were the embodiments of the traditional culture of China.
But Wu argues that the authors have maintained their consciousness of the dark and ugly side of that period.
Tang Haoming, in his voluminous novel series of Zeng Guofan, The Peerless Genius, and Zhang Zhidong, attempted to deal with the dilemma Chinese intellectuals faced in those times.
Cherishing ideals of social reformation, they fought vigourously before the seat of power in order to realize their aspiration.
Success was followed by assimilation and their ultimate conversion into fellow conspirators of power.
Unlike Tang Haoming, the works of Ling Li and Eryuehe concentrate chiefly on the political intrigue and plots at court, with the emperor at the center of this political eddy.
Eryuehe's famous work, The Reign of Yongzheng, is an encyclopaedia of cruel power-snatching games.
Yongzheng, the fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the fourth son of Emperor Kangxi, is depicted as a redoubtable politician whose scheming disposition and ruthlessness paradoxically qualified him to be a capable and successful emperor.
The development of Yongzheng's character, and the spiritual isolation he increasingly found himself in, are vividly recreated, showing a profound and sophisticated understanding of humanity by the author.
Despite the successes of the three writers, Wu pointed out that each work failed to diagnose the disease at the heart of those societies, namely the thirst for power.
The authors perhaps show too much interest in and even admiration for the bitter struggles for power, he said.
Cultural Clash
The Qing Dynasty was an era when science and the democratic thoughts of the Western world first loomed on China's horizon.
It was also the age when China was invaded and finally forced into submission under the semi-colonial rule of the Western powers.
As a result, the three writers who deal with that period of China in their works almost all touched on the issue of cultural clashes between the East and West.
Wu argued that Ling Li had made a serious effort to question the cultural relationship between the West and China.
In her novel, Shaonian Tianzi (The Youth King), she dismissed the unfavorable perception of Western missionaries and painted a vivid portrait of the Catholic and liberal-minded Adam Schall von Bell (1591-1666, Chinese name Tang Ruowang).
A more conscious engagement in the issue of the East-West cultural relationship can be seen in her work, Dream Shattered on the Frontier River, which was published in the latter half of 1999 and is set against the background of the Opium War (1840-42).
Wu said this book surpassed earlier works on the same subject since Ling hadn't become restricted by a moral and emotional dimension in seeing China merely as the innocent victim of atrocities by Western imperialists.
Instead, she adopted a more profound perspective. The extreme fatuity, superstitiousness and narrow-mindedness of the Qing government are recorded truthfully, and represented as a pitiful opposite to the superior reason and pragmatism of Western countries.
The result is a highly painful but inevitable recognition that the weak will be beaten by the powerful when two civilizations clash.
Old China must take its fair share of blame with the Western imperialists.
(China Daily August 28, 2002)
