Reportage literature (China)

Chinese reportage literature ( Chinese 報告文學 / 报告文学 , Pinyin bàogào wénxué - "reportage literature") describes non- fictional prose in Chinese literature that is intended to clarify and criticize social processes. Reportage literature is particularly influential in China these days and has developed along with modern literature and journalism since the 1920s.

Modern reportage literature in China is a new genre in which authenticity and narrative elements, objective representation and subjective statements are combined in the eyewitness report . These reports are laid out as sketches , correspondence , letters , reports and travel observations.

One of the first authors of the Chinese reportage literature was Qu Qiubai (1899-1935), who wrote it in travelogues. In the 1930s, reportage literature experienced a heyday among left-wing writers, as they saw an opportunity here to have an effect, also in view of the social conflicts and the threat from Japan.

Foreign role models were also important for the Chinese reportage literature. B. Egon Erwin Kisch's China secret . In an essay by Mao Dun "On Reportage Literature" (1937) he tried to define the new genre and role models such as John Dos Passos and John Reed were named. One of the most important works of reportage literature was the series A Day in China (Zhongguo de yi ri) published by Mao Dun , in which well-known writers such as Ye Shengtao , Ding Ling , Ba Jin and Zheng Zhenduo wrote articles that were true, current and with narrative stylistic devices should be equipped.

During the war against Japan (1937–1945), reportage literature played an important role in the mobilization. Later, economic development and the Korean War were discussed in the People's Republic of China . The report literature had the function of promoting positive examples, a function that this literature still has to the present day. As a result of the Hundred Flower Movement , however, negative examples were increasingly used to expose bureaucratism, inability of the cadres and abuse of privileges. The intention to write the truth and meddle in life was significantly influenced by the Soviet writer Oveckin.

Reportage literature was no longer written during the Cultural Revolution , and it was not until the 1970s and 1980s that it became popular again, becoming a forum for political discussion and sensitive, taboo topics. The reportage literature played an important role in coming to terms with the past and discussing current problems such as B. population policy, family policy, ecology and environmental policy, crime and poverty or corruption and abuse of power.

Of particular importance were Liu Binyan , but also Xu Chi and Huang Zongying , who opposed cultural revolutionary mysticism and the ultra-left politics towards science and scientists. Hu Ping and Zhang Shengyou also drew attention to the unacceptable living conditions of Chinese intellectuals.

The most important representative of historical reportage literature was Dai Qing , who tried to correct the official historical picture in a differentiated manner. The destruction of the environment and the exploitation of nature were also thematized by her. Other important authors of the reportage literature were e.g. B. Su Xiaokang , Ke Yan , Li You and Huo Da .

The reportage novel (xinwenti xiaoshuo) represented a new development, and from the 1970s, reportage literature became popular and influential in Taiwan.

literature

Volker Klöpsch, Eva Müller (Ed.): Lexicon of Chinese Literature. CH Beck, Munich 2004

Reportage literature (China)

See also

literature