Irish Literature in China

Irish Studies is a lively and developing academic field in China. Although acknowledged as a distinctive area of study only in the past few decades, it has grown rapidly through both institutional development and scholarly research. An interdisciplinary interest in Irish history and culture, including the production of both translations and critical studies of literature, has long attracted Chinese scholars—even before "Irish Studies" emerged as an academic program in the West in the second half of the twentieth century. Roughly speaking, two major periods of activity can be identified in China's reception of Irish literature: the early twentieth century and the more contemporary period after the 1990s. The first existed concurrently with China's urge to find literary expression for its own political crises, whereas the second coincides with the country's rapid modernization and globalization since its opening-up in the 1980s.

Contexts

With its vast differences from Ireland in its geography, population, and culture, China might appear an unlikely place for Irish Studies to emerge, much less flourish. Without the many descendants of Irish immigrants that more easily explain such awareness in the United States or Australia, or even without the shared island geography that might account for Japan's strong academic interest in the area,¹ an awareness in China of Irish literature nevertheless continues to develop. An examination of parallel developments between Ireland and China in the two periods of flourishing cultural interchange provides several explanations.

The early twentieth century witnessed a radical shift among Chinese academics from the long-lasting Confucian tradition to a growing interest in Western cultures. Both China and Ireland were immersed in political turmoil during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Ireland struggled to achieve independence from centuries of British colonization, while China was torn by factional warlords as well as foreign threats, of which Britain represented a major one.² Even after the Republic of China was founded in 1912 to replace the Qing Dynasty, the country's central authority still waxed and waned in response to warlordism (1916–28), Japanese invasion (1931–45), and a lasting civil war (1927–49).

Irish and Chinese scholars, however, looked in different directions to reach their related goals of seeking cultural solutions to concurrent political crisis. The Irish Literary Revival was among the first major Western literatures to be followed and analyzed by China's new generation of scholars. Led by W. B. Yeats, the Revivalists turned inward to an ancient precolonial Celtic heritage for inspiration, whereas a new generation of Chinese scholars, disillusioned with the oppressive and long-existing dominance of Confucianism, looked outward for new opportunities. Motivated initially by the practical aim of learning advanced technology from the West in order to resist invasion, these efforts evolved into an embrace of literature and culture as well. The New Culture Movement (新文化运动) of the mid-1910s and 1920s thus paved the way for a modern period of Chinese literature remarkably different from earlier forms.³ In 1917 Hu Shih (胡适, 1891–1962), then studying philosophy at Columbia University in the United States, published "A Tentative Proposal for Literary Reform" (文学 改良刍议) in New Youth (新青年), a radical monthly magazine produced in Beijing.⁴ He called for a new national literature written not in the classical language (文言文), but in a living Chinese idiom (白话 文); with others sharing his view, he pioneered the writing of vernacular poetry. Meanwhile, by imitating Western dramatic conventions, efforts were made to create a spoken drama (话剧) as an alternative to traditional operatic theatre, which was viewed as too tradition-bound to express the sentiments of an increasingly modern world.

A major feature of China's New Culture Movement and its development of a modern vernacular literature was the introduction and translation of foreign literatures resulting from this new openness to outside influences. An example can be found in the education of Cao Yu (曹禺, 1910–96), a founding father of modern Chinese spoken drama. Cao was exposed to Western theatrical traditions throughout his education: first at Tianjin Naikai High School between 1922 and 1928, and then at Tsinghua University, where he earned a degree in Western languages...