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| It Often Begins with a Smile, 1930s. By Jin Meisheng (1902-1989). Chromolithograph on paper. Collection of the Shanghai History Museum. |
I am making this post available as an extra credit opportunity, as the readings for the coming week are too good to be missing out from our online discussion! You can certainly focus on this week's readings for your first paper and combine the two tasks more effectively to receive credit for your paper and extra credit for reading response.
Please respond to the first chapter of Mao Dun's novel Midnight and Shi Zhecun's short story "One Night in a Rainy Season". How do the chapter from the novel and the short story contribute to our understanding of a new urban culture in Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s? Are the chapter from the novel and the short story different or similar in their ways of approaching Shanghai urban culture? Which of the two pieces seem to best represent an emerging "modernism" in Chinese literature at the time, from your point of view? Use textual evidence with page numbers to support your argument. Due Wednesday October 9 by 10 pm for one extra credit.
The short essay "One evening in the raining season" just described a man's mentality movement in a raining dawn with a young lady. The male enjoy the raining day. When he came out from the office, the rain pouring down. He absorbed every passenger got out from the bus and noticed a girl. After several minutes' silence, the man finally came by the girl and accompany her for a while. Miss Liu make him think of his first love, classmate, neighbor. But she is not. So after a while in the rain, when the rain stops , the girl just said goodbye to the man. And the man have to go back home.
ReplyDeleteThis short essay is more looks like a kind of stream of consciousness. There is hardly a complete story. Most of words are given to the mentality movement of the man. He desire that girl in his deep emotion, and try to find a perfect excuse to get close to her, like she was his first love. But he has a wife already, so the morality made him keep normal. In the essay, the scenes of the raining Shanghai really made me got back to the 1920s. The modern building like the huge clock, standing beside the road. The passengers of different countries, classes described the life in that time, which also left me a deep impression.
He wanted to approach that beautiful girl, but he was afraid of traditional moral thoughts. So when the girl say goodbye to him, he came back home. The mental activity about him can show us his loneliness. Maybe this is a common problems for the city men and women at that time in Shanghai.
DeleteI agree with you. The short essay is a kind of stream of consciousness. He displays a totally new pattern and style from content to form, and changes the concept and style of novel writing.
DeleteWith the rapid process of urbanization in China from 1980s, many people changed their life style. Shanghai is the typical open city in China, it grew from a relatively small, fishing community to large and imposing city with many western buildings, large boats and a huge bridge to support increased movement around the city. For anyone living in Shanghai during this time period, that much change would likely have caused a lot of stress and contributed to a sense of being dominated by the city. “One Evening in the Rainy Season” tells a story happened in Shanghai, and it focused on the mental activity of a man. A man met a beautiful woman in a rainy night, and he began to image about the woman. From this essay, I think that many people at that time would feel lonely and sense of alienation.
ReplyDeleteOnce the man is out in the rain, he claims to move forward without intentionality. His insistence that he acts without awareness implies that he either believes, or wants to believe, that the evening’s encounter is destined. When he notices that the rain soaked world feels poetic, he claims “the “feeling” was certainly no substantial thought” (Shi Zhicun, pp.128) When the bus carrying the woman arrives, he does not cross the street as he should have and as a result he is perplexed by his inaction. When he finally approaches the woman he’s been watching for over an hour, “involuntarily edged up to her side. (Shi Zhicun, pp.129) “Later, after walking with her in the rain, he asks himself, so, should I leave then? Yes, I should. So why didn’t I?”(Shi Zhicun, pp.130) All of these actions are outside of his conscious choice and leave the impression that he is either led by some destiny or living in a world that is dictated by motives outside of those on which he usually depends. Finally, he back to the real world. He is a role that represents the city men and city women at that time. They want to live a new life but afraid of breaking the traditional moral principles.
They want to live a new life but afraid of breaking the traditional moral principles. I like this opinion. But, I think some traditional moral principles are good for people. We need morality to prevent people get mistakes. In the novel, the man has a wife, and he oughts to loyal to his wife.
DeleteThe short essay of “One Evening in the Rainy Season” describes a man who is enjoying walking in the rain, and he meets a girl leads him to suspect that she is his first girlfriend because of her profile and Suzhou accent. They walke together, and he is afraid of other people who are on the street think of them being together because he has had a wife. When the rain stops, the girl appreciates for him and sends him on his way. When the man returns home, he lies to his wife.
ReplyDeleteThis story published in was 1928, and happened in Shanghai. During that period, Shanghai has became a modern city in China, and a lot of new things have been accepted, such as new ideas and technology. Man started to respect woman in the society. One example is “Miss, I’m afraid there won’t be any rickshaws for a while. If you don’t object, I could accompany you on your way. I have an umbrella.”(131) And, after he lied to his wife, he ate very little for supper because of his wife credence. (135) In the past China, man seldom has that kind of manifestation.
You said that man started to respect woman in society at that time and gave example. I think this opinion is right, in ancient time, women have low status. But after May 4th Movement, many kinds of new ideas flowed over into China. Many people thought that women should have equal status to men.
DeleteThe “midnight” is about the violence in China in 1930’s by Mao Dun. The main character in the story is Wu Sunpu, an industrial capitalist in Shanghai. However, local government was against to his industry business. The government leaders combined their power to destroy Wu’s business.
ReplyDeleteIn this story, I focus on the change in China in 1930s. Shanghai is the most important financial city in China. A lot of international companies are in the city. I think this is reasonable combine with the history. In 1930s, foreign countries colonized the most of lands in Shanghai. At that time, there were a lot of new things appeared in China, such as public transportation. The women’ dressing style changed to western style. They wore high heels. They wore perfume. This could represent the development. However, do you think there is negative change happened in China? For example,the women in the “Midnight”. Do you think they changed too much? I couldn’t see any typical Chinese woman characters from them. Look at today’s Shanghai, which is totally different from Beijing. There is no old history in Shanghai. I should say Shanghai is an international city in China.
After 1927, Shanghai became a new popular place that all the scholars got together so Shanghai was a city where was chosen to be a landmark or a background to a love story by the scholars. During this time, writers pay more attention to the society or social life in Shanghai also they can see the luxury life and corruption in this city. “One Evening of a Raining Season” described that a man who has married and met a girl who did not reject his offer to get her home. This reminds the man that his first girlfriend and his wife. When the rain stopped, the man came back home. From this story, it can be seen that the marriage of this man is not happy. If he feel happy, he should not unwilling to go home after work. So this is a kind of expressing his depression.
ReplyDelete"What type of society are we living in?"
ReplyDelete"It's a tall order, your question. But you can find an answer in the next room. There you have a successful financier and a captain of industry. That little drawing-room is Chinese society in miniature."
"But there's also a pious old man- a believer in the Book of Rewards and Punishments."
"Yes, but the old man is - dying fast."
This short conversation is, in my opinion, the key to Midnight. It explains how the society is on the decline in regards to older styles, or traditionalism. Shanghai is providing new insight to China, and the people are open for the new ways.