Mandarin ducks and butterflies
Mandarin ducks and butterflies ( Chinese 鴛鴦蝴蝶派 , pinyin yuānyang húdié pài ) denotes a literary movement of the Republican period in China in Chinese literature .
term
The term was initially used disparagingly for love stories that were written in the classical style and made use of traditional Chinese symbols for lovers (such as mandarin ducks or butterflies ).
The term initially only referred to a set group of authors, including Xu Zhenya 徐 枕 亞 (1889-1937) and Wu Shuangre 吴 雙 熱 (1884-1934).
In the 1920s the term was coined by the authors of the May Fourth Movement such as Mao Dun and Zheng Zhenduo as a derogatory term for any kind of popular literature in the old style.
distribution
The spread of this form of literature is closely related to a decrease in the illiteracy rate in Chinese cities and to the development of printing in Shanghai at the beginning of the 20th century. More and more people had access to literary works and could read for their private enjoyment. The literature of the Madarin ducks and butterflies was intended primarily for entertainment and was particularly popular with the urban middle class.
example
An example of this trend is the most widely read Chinese novel of the first half of the 20th century: Fate in Tears and Laughter (啼笑 因緣, Tixiao Yinyuan ) by Zhang Henshui , which was first published in 1929/1930 in the newspaper Xinwen Bao (新聞 報) was released in serial form.
literature
- Perry Link: Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies: Popular Fiction in Early Twentieth Century Chinese Cities . University of California Press, Berkeley 1981, ISBN 0-520-04111-9 .
- Rana Mitter: A Bitter Revolution: China's Struggle with the Modern World . Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-19-280341-7 , pp. 89 f .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Link 1981, p. 12