EUR  â¬151.20EUR  â¬126.00 excl. VAT
Utopian Fiction in China
Genre, Print Culture and Knowledge Formation, 1902â1912
Series: - Sinica Leidensia, Volume: 160
Author:
Unlike previous studies that have examined the late Qing utopian imagination as an ahistorical motif, a literary theme, and a translation phenomenon, in this book Shuk Man Leung considers utopian fiction as a knowledge apparatus that helped develop Chinese nationalism and modernity. Based on untapped primary sources in Chinese, English, and Japanese, her research reveals how utopian imagination, blooming after Liang Qichaoâs publication of The Future of New China, served as a tool of knowledge formation and dissemination that transformed Chinaâs public sphere and catalysed historical change.
Embracing interdisciplinary approach from genre studies, studies on modern Chinese newspapers and intellectual history, this book provides an analysis of the development of utopian literary practices, epistemic meanings, and fictional narratives and the interactions between traditional and imported knowledge that helped shape the discourse in early 20th century China.
Embracing interdisciplinary approach from genre studies, studies on modern Chinese newspapers and intellectual history, this book provides an analysis of the development of utopian literary practices, epistemic meanings, and fictional narratives and the interactions between traditional and imported knowledge that helped shape the discourse in early 20th century China.
Shuk Man Leung, Ph.D. (2013), School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, is Assistant Professor of the School of Chinese at the University of Hong Kong. Her works on late Qing and modern Chinese fiction, Hong Kong literature and print culture during the cultural Cold War have appeared in journals such as Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, Asian Studies Review, Cultural Studies, Comparative Literature Studies and Journal of Modern Literature in Chinese.
"In this meticulously researched and carefully argued new study, Shuk Man Leung guides her readers towards a coherent and complex understanding of Chinese âNew Fictionâ from the first decade of the twentieth century. Building on and moving beyond existing studies of the genreâs literary characteristics, Leung demonstrates its significance in sparking a âutopian imaginationâ that came to pervade all aspects of Chinese modernity, shaping the ways of knowing Chinaâs future that circulated among participants in the periodâs flourishing print culture, intellectual debate, and political activism."
â Michel Hockx, University of Notre Dame
"Shuk Man Leungâs monograph offers an in-depth and original investigation into Utopian fiction in Chinese in the final years of the Qing dynasty at the beginning of the twentieth century. Her work explores how this genre, imported through translation first of Edward Bellamyâs Looking Backward, played a vital role in the reimagining of the political arena and the nation-state at this critical juncture in modern Chinese history. Leung also demonstrates how utopian visions of Chinaâs future underpinned the entire project of modern Chinese literature. A must read for researchers in modern Chinese intellectual history, modern Chinese literature, and translation studies."
â James St Andre, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
"Literature does not merely represent reality/history; it creates ârealityâ/history that leads to a coming future through imagination at a critical historical turning point. Leungâs book precisely tells us how the Chinese literary modernity of utopian fiction in the early twentieth century contributed to modern Chinese nation-building. From a global perspective and fresh way, she demonstrates how modern Chinese utopian fiction functioned as an influential and unique mass medium and contributed to peopleâs identity formatting at the outset of Chinese nation-building. This book tells us how language, particularly utopian fiction, mediates and bridges between the past, reality and the coming future and how literary imagination can create history."
â LIN Shaoyang, Distinguished Professor, History Department, University of Macau
â Michel Hockx, University of Notre Dame
"Shuk Man Leungâs monograph offers an in-depth and original investigation into Utopian fiction in Chinese in the final years of the Qing dynasty at the beginning of the twentieth century. Her work explores how this genre, imported through translation first of Edward Bellamyâs Looking Backward, played a vital role in the reimagining of the political arena and the nation-state at this critical juncture in modern Chinese history. Leung also demonstrates how utopian visions of Chinaâs future underpinned the entire project of modern Chinese literature. A must read for researchers in modern Chinese intellectual history, modern Chinese literature, and translation studies."
â James St Andre, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
"Literature does not merely represent reality/history; it creates ârealityâ/history that leads to a coming future through imagination at a critical historical turning point. Leungâs book precisely tells us how the Chinese literary modernity of utopian fiction in the early twentieth century contributed to modern Chinese nation-building. From a global perspective and fresh way, she demonstrates how modern Chinese utopian fiction functioned as an influential and unique mass medium and contributed to peopleâs identity formatting at the outset of Chinese nation-building. This book tells us how language, particularly utopian fiction, mediates and bridges between the past, reality and the coming future and how literary imagination can create history."
â LIN Shaoyang, Distinguished Professor, History Department, University of Macau
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Introduction
â1âHistoricizing Chinese Modernity and New Fictionâs Utopian Imagination
â2âNew Fiction as a New Genre
â3âUtopian Fiction in China
â4âThe Position of the Authors: Liang Qichao and His Contemporaries
â5âChapter Summaries
1 Establishment: New Fiction, Utopian Imagination, and the Generic System
â1âThe Order of Things: Legitimization of Fiction in the Chinese Bibliography
â2âThe Emergence of New Fiction and Its Generic Norms
â3âThe Generic Features of New Fiction: The Future of New China
â4âConclusion
2 Dissemination: the Generic Features of the Utopian Imagination
â1âGeneric Classification of New Fiction
â2âConclusion: the Intergeneric Element of the Utopian Imagination
3 Channels: the Political Function of Utopian Fiction and the Chinese Public Sphere
â1âUtopian Fiction as a Form of Public Opinion
â2âUtopia or Dystopia? Chinaâs Partition and Revolutionary Journals
â3âUtopia(s) Realized? The Constitutional Campaign and Fiction Magazines
â4âUtopia beyond Constitutionalism: the Chinese Revolution of 1911 and Shanghai News
â5âConclusion
4 Origins: Liang Qichao and Chinese, Japanese, and Western Epistemology
â1âThe Discourse of the Future
â2âThe Discourse of the Nation
â3âConclusion: Utopian Temporality and Spatiality
5 Borderless Nations? Cosmopolitan Utopias with Anarchist and Socialist Faces
â1âA Cosmopolitan Utopia with an Anarchist Face
â2âThe Third Road: Socialist Cosmopolitanism as a Moral Solution
â3âConclusion: a Moral Order for Building a Nation/Society
6 Crossing the Border: Chinese Settler Colonialism and a Borderless National Imagination
â1âThe Discovery of Colonization and Chinese Nationalism
â2âLü Shengâs a Madmanâs Dream: Deterritorialized China
â3âYunnan Journal and Its Utopian Novels: Transnational Autonomy
â4âConclusion
Conclusion: the Dual Community of New Fictionâs Utopian Imagination: Writing, Reading and Imagining
â1âThe Way âWeâ Imagine
â2âThe Way âWeâ Write and Read
â3âThe Power of Utopia: History, Imagination and Knowledge Formation
Appendix: Figures
Bibliography
Index
List of Figures
Introduction
â1âHistoricizing Chinese Modernity and New Fictionâs Utopian Imagination
â2âNew Fiction as a New Genre
â3âUtopian Fiction in China
â4âThe Position of the Authors: Liang Qichao and His Contemporaries
â5âChapter Summaries
1 Establishment: New Fiction, Utopian Imagination, and the Generic System
â1âThe Order of Things: Legitimization of Fiction in the Chinese Bibliography
â2âThe Emergence of New Fiction and Its Generic Norms
â3âThe Generic Features of New Fiction: The Future of New China
â4âConclusion
2 Dissemination: the Generic Features of the Utopian Imagination
â1âGeneric Classification of New Fiction
â2âConclusion: the Intergeneric Element of the Utopian Imagination
3 Channels: the Political Function of Utopian Fiction and the Chinese Public Sphere
â1âUtopian Fiction as a Form of Public Opinion
â2âUtopia or Dystopia? Chinaâs Partition and Revolutionary Journals
â3âUtopia(s) Realized? The Constitutional Campaign and Fiction Magazines
â4âUtopia beyond Constitutionalism: the Chinese Revolution of 1911 and Shanghai News
â5âConclusion
4 Origins: Liang Qichao and Chinese, Japanese, and Western Epistemology
â1âThe Discourse of the Future
â2âThe Discourse of the Nation
â3âConclusion: Utopian Temporality and Spatiality
5 Borderless Nations? Cosmopolitan Utopias with Anarchist and Socialist Faces
â1âA Cosmopolitan Utopia with an Anarchist Face
â2âThe Third Road: Socialist Cosmopolitanism as a Moral Solution
â3âConclusion: a Moral Order for Building a Nation/Society
6 Crossing the Border: Chinese Settler Colonialism and a Borderless National Imagination
â1âThe Discovery of Colonization and Chinese Nationalism
â2âLü Shengâs a Madmanâs Dream: Deterritorialized China
â3âYunnan Journal and Its Utopian Novels: Transnational Autonomy
â4âConclusion
Conclusion: the Dual Community of New Fictionâs Utopian Imagination: Writing, Reading and Imagining
â1âThe Way âWeâ Imagine
â2âThe Way âWeâ Write and Read
â3âThe Power of Utopia: History, Imagination and Knowledge Formation
Appendix: Figures
Bibliography
Index
This book will enrich the understanding of undergraduates, postgraduates, and specialists of the literary modernity and the epistemic identity of New Fictionâs utopian imagination and its relationship with the modern press in the late Qing period. The first readership is located in the field of late Qing and modern Chinese literature, with the secondary readership in the field of utopian studies, particularly those in comparative studies, and the third readership in the field of the study of modern Chinese newspapers.