Course:ASIA351/2021/Shi Zhecun

Shi Zhecun (施蛰存, 1905-2003) was a Chinese poet, essayist, short story writer, and translator in Shanghai in the 1930s. Shi is most well known as the leader of the New Sensationist group and for his contributions as the chief editor of Les Contemporains which introduced a wide range of modern world literature to China . He was also infamously quoted as "a scumbag of the foreign concession” (洋場惡少) by prominent leading figure in modern Chinese literature Lu Xun, later on being recognized as a early political leftist during the cultural revolution. Notable works include "The General's Head" (将军的头) published in 1932 inspired by Freudianism and the May Fourth Movement, and "One Evening in the Rainy Season" (梅雨之夕) published in 1929, earning critical acclaim from authors such as Yu Fenggao.

Shi Zhecun
Picture of Shi Zhecun 施蛰存
Born	December 3, 1905 Hangzhou, Zhejiang
Died	November 19, 2003 Shanghai
Occupation	Essayist, poet, translator, and short story writer
Education	Aurora University
Period	1926 - 2003
Genre	Freudian and modernistic short stories, classical poetry, and essays

Life

On December 3, 1905 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Shi Zhecun was born into a family of “impoverished Confucian scholars” that often moved around. Four years later, he moved to Suzhou with his family because his father Shi Yizheng (施亦政) found temporary work there as he had lost the ability to advance his career with the abolishment of the imperial exams. In Suzhou, his father started Shi Zhecun on the study of classical poetry in the Hanshan Temple with "A Night Mooring Near Maple Bridge" (楓橋夜泊) by Zhang Ji (張繼).

He would soon leave Suzhou at age eight, moving to Songjiang with his parents because of his father who lost his job due to the Xinhai Revolution. In Songjiang which Shi later considered was his home, Shi started learning English, reading foreign literature and writing classical poems.

In 1922, Shi attended Hangzhou's Hangchow University, becoming acquainted with the Orchid Society (a renowned literary society in Hangzhou with young writers) and starting his journey into local literary scenes.  

Shortly after, in 1923 Shi went to Shanghai to expand his literary influence, attending Aurora University (now merged into East China Normal University) in 1926 to study English and French literature. In the 1930's Shi and friends created the "Jade Necklace Society"(瓔珞社) and created magazines such as Yingluo (瓔珞). He also edited magazines such as Wugui lieche( 無軌列車) , Xin wenyi (新文) and most notably, Les contemporains (现代) (1932-1935), being heavily rebuked in the literary scene by the likes of prominent literary leftist's like Lu Xun during this time. After the repeated criticism from Lu Xun, Shi briefly edited for a less political "Select Texts of Chinese Literature Series" (中國文學珍本叢書) for the Shanghai Magazine Company.

In 1936, Shi returned to Hangzhou jobless and taught at Xingsu Girls Middle School. In the summer of 1937, he accepted a position to teach classical literature at Yunnan University, untimely followed by the Sino-Japanese war which was shortly followed with the cultural revolution. During the turmoil, Shi worked as a farmer in Jiading and as a teacher in the East China Normal University among other odd jobs.

In 1947, Shi returned to Shanghai and switched his focus to classical literature and study of inscriptions.

After his publication ban expired in the 1980's, Shi published many works such as his final poem memoir Fusheng Zayong (浮生雜詠) (1974) until his eventual death in Shanghai on November 19, 2003.

Literary career

Shi Zhecun's literary career began after his English and French literature studies at the Aurora University in the French concession of Shanghai in 1926. He met several writers at Aurora University with whom created the New Sensationist group . During his tenure with the group, he took part in editing minor literary journals such as the Yingluo xunkan (瓔珞, Pearl Necklace Trimonthly) and Wugui lieche (無軌列車, Trackless Train) which featured their own work and translations. In 1929, Shi and members of the New Sensationist group started Xin Wenyi (新文, La Nouvelle Litterature), a new journal that was then shut down by government censors soon after. Within the same year, he wrote a collection of short stories called Shangyuan deng (上元灯, Spring Festival Lamp) which dealt with themes of nostalgia, memory, and fetishism of various sorts as well as translating multiple works including Arther Schnitzler's Frau Berta Garlan .

In 1929, Shi Zhecun published one of his most famous short stories in his short story collection, Meiyu zhi xi (梅雨之夕, One Evening in the Rainy Season) which quickly became a sensation in the literary scene. In 1931, the New Sensationist group disbanded and Shi went back to teaching in Songjiang. However, he was soon offered the role of managing editor for a new journal called Les Contemporains (现代 Xiandai, 1932-1935) which then published its first issue in 1932. Shi's time at the helm of Les Contemporains pushed the journal to new heights and he was quickly recognized as a prominent member in the Shanghai literary scene. Within 1932, Shi published another short story collection called Jiangjun di tou (将军底头, The General's Head) which featured a provocative take on a chapter from the famous Ming Dynasty novel Shuihu zhuan (水滸傳, Water Margin). In 1933 Shi published Shan nuren xingpin (善女人行, Exemplary Conduct of Virtuous Women) in a collection of 11 short stories. Despite his success as chief editor for Les Contemporains, it was also during his tenure at the journal where he received continuous attacks by prominent literary leftist's like Lu Xun . Shi's last short story collection was published in 1936, after the dissolvement of Les Contemporains, where he consequently began to edit for a less political journal, Zhongguo wenxue zhenben congshu (中國文學珍本叢書, Select Texts of Chinese Literature Series) .

After the Japanese invasion of China In 1937, Shi Zhecun moved to Kunming to teach classical literature at Yunnan University. By 1940, Shi Zhecun stopped writing fiction, and instead focused on translation work until the 1950's and began to pursue an academic career in classical scholarship .

In 1947, Shi Zhecun returned to Shanghai and wrote numerous essays as well as his memoirs after the Cultural Revolution .

From 1950s to early 1980s, Shi Zhecun's literary works was deemed as "decadent" and "bourgeois" by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and was subsequently banned from the public .

On January 30th 1990, Shi Zhecun completed his memoir consisting of eighty poems, titled Fusheng zayong (浮生雜詠, Miscellaneous Poems of a Floating Life) .

Representative works

《雾》Fog (1933)

Plot

Fog is a short novel collected in Shannüren xingpin in 1933. It is mainly about Suzhen, a 28-year-old maidenhood woman who always keeps Chinese tradition moral codes, meets her "ideal husband" on a train during fog weather. She falls in love with him and decides to accept free love, suggested through the description of her mental activities. But after she knows that the man is just "an actor, a lowly performer", she attributes her emotions into the fog, which is so thick that she cannot see a thing.

Writing Style & Characteristics

Shi Zhecun has a very distinctive feature in his writing that he spends a lot of words to describe the psychological activity of characters, therefore, his novels are always called psychoanalysis. He combines the subjective feeling into the description of the object to pursue the feeling of novelty. In Fog, Suzhen's long-repressed desire for love breaks out when she meets the gentleman who reads poetry. For example, she dreams about how they start a conversation, introduce him to her sisters, and even the gentleman may know her uncle, which is very detailed and lively. We could see women's shyness but full of romantic fantasy in face of love, and it contrasts with the shock that Suzhen got when she knew about his job. The methods of psychoanalysis is influenced by famous psychologist Freud, who claims the importance of inner thoughts and dreams satisfy the instinct desire. Shi Zhecun focus on the metropolis and lonely characters under the conflicts of Western culture and traditional culture to suggest the repressed instinct desire such as love and sex. Although affirming the rationality of libido, Shi also satirises the inner conflicts of some women in the border of new and old, which could be shown in Fog when Suzhen blames the weather for making her ability to see a person lower. They seem to be modern from appearance, but in bones they are still traditional.

Comments

The ending is a little bit surprising, but it makes sense in terms of the identity of Suzhen, who is influenced more by conservatism than mordenism. Although she is trying to embrace modernity and have a desire for love, her fantasy is ended by herself. Fog is just an excuse for her because of the discrimination towards actors. The fog has lots of symbolic meanings and it makes the boundaries between tradition and modernity, fantasy and reality become blear. Shi wrote the novel in order to criticize the bad influence of traditional ethic moral principles on people's lives.

《梅雨之夕》One Rainy Evening / One Evening in the Rainy Season (1929)

Plot

One Rainy Evening (also known as One Evening in the Rainy Season) is another short novel written by Shi Zhecun. It was collected in Shangyuan deng (上元灯, Spring Festival Lamp) in 1929. This short story is narrated in a first-person point of view. The narrator is a middle-aged married man, who works as an office clerk in Shanghai. On his way home one evening, he suddenly encounters a heavy rain. Shortly after, he sees a beautiful young woman who just got off a trolley bus and does not bring an umbrella with her. The narrator is then attracted by her beauty and wants to approach her. Nonetheless, without knowing how, he just stands back and observes for an hour. After that, he finally decides to summon the courage to offer to walk her to her destination. She accepts it. When they walk under his umbrella, he cannot stop the fantasy, delusion, and sexual desire for the woman. At first, he even thinks that she might be his first girlfriend many years ago because they look alike. Also, he starts to worry about meeting any acquaintance, and what people on the street might think of them. After a while, the rain stops and the young woman thanks him politely and refuses to be accompanied any further. The narrator, therefore, is extremely disappointed about it. As she leaves, he just figures out that she is not his first girlfriend. When he returns home, he lies to his wife about his detour and claims that he was with his friends at the bar.

Writing Style & Characteristics

Shi Zhecun was very good at describing the psychological activities of the characters. In this novel, a host of psychological states of the narrator are showcased throughout the whole story. As a result, the readers can feel more related to his experience and be able to understand his escalation of feelings in a deeper way. In One Rainy Evening, his fantasy, delusion, and desire for the young woman are conspicuous and are the focuses of the story. As well as that, Shi Zhecun used a lot of imaginations to portray the protagonist. For example, when the narrator finally makes the decision to ask her to share his umbrella, he imagines himself as being a 'brave, medieval warrior' who saves her from the heavy rain. These imaginations make the personality of the character more vivid. This novel would probably become a boring story if Shi wrote it in a usual conventional style. However, the detailed descriptions of the psychological activities and the internal struggles of the narrator have enriched the entire story. The uncertainty and the tension inside his mind highlight his undecisive feature. All these elements successfully make the character more interesting.

Comments

The portrayal of the narrator is so distinct that it makes his personality stand out. The protagonist wants to seek for passion and excitement in order to be free from his dull, monotonous life. When he discovers that he has been intrigued by the beautiful face and body of the young woman, he feels excited and guilty at the same time. He is obsessed with her beauty and feels overjoyed walking with her. Meanwhile, he is also worried about being found out by someone he knows because what he is doing is not appropriate during that period of time. When he sees a female shop-keeper who looks depressed, he suddenly thinks of his wife. It illustrates that the narrator longs for a romantic relationship with someone else, but he is too afraid of breaking the rules in the society for not being loyal to his wife.

Influences

Sigmund Freud and Freudianism

Shi Zhecun was known to be interested in modern psychology and was influenced by German psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Freudianism originally spread through China in the 1920s through Western and European channels. Specifically, the focus was on Freud's structure of the mind, theorizing that the unconscious was a force able to mold decisions and developments. This was characterized by random and haphazard thoughts assimilating with an individual's stream of consciousness. Freud's additional theory on sex as a primary instinct was also influential in the themes of writers' works. This Freudian lens was adopted by many of Shi Zhecun's works, as Jiangjun ditou (The General's Head) and Chunyang (The Spring Sun) were both written as psychoanalytic fiction. Shi Zhecun was also known for his involvement in editing the magazine Les Contemporains (Xiandai) which explored the Freudian themes of unconscious motives, free association, and the psychoanalytic analysis of sexuality.

Shanghai and The New Sensationists

Shi Zhecun was part of a group of writers in the late 1920s and 1930s known as the New Sensationalist School (Xinganjuepai) which most notably consisted of himself and literary figures Liu Na Ou and Mu Shiying. The term itself was originally coined from a group of Japanese writers in the 1920s who took inspiration from Western modern art movements such as Dadaism, Futurism and Expressionism. The New Sensationists was founded at Aurora University in Shanghai where Shi Zhecun learned English and translated works such as Arthur Schnitzler's Frau berta Garrlan in 1929. Schnitzler's novels in addition to works by Havelock Ellis and Edgar Allan Poe had significant influence on Shi Zhecun's own literary work. The group took great inspiration from the cosmopolitan modernity of Shanghai by capturing the intensity and chaos of the city in their respective stories. In particular, Shi Zhecun's famous piece One Evening in the Rainy Season (Meiyu zhi xi) draws directly from Shanghai as a representation of sexuality and as the source for the narrator's delusions and desires.

Post-May Fourth Movement

Although Shi Zhecun's psychoanalytic fiction flourished in the 1930s, the conditions in which it prospered originated from the aftermath of the cultural and sociopolitical tensions of the May Fourth Movement of 1919. This movement was the initial step Chinese intellectuals took to introduce Western modernity into China in order to save it from imperial feudalism. It was after the movement however, that Shanghai became the epicentre of modernity due to its commercialism and its inclusion of both the French and International Concessions. This molded the environment of Shanghai into a rich and diverse backdrop for writers such as Shi Zhecun to portray the complex and dynamic minds of Shanghai's urbanites. The themes of these transpired events would later prove prevalent in Shi's works, fading into obscurity and brought back to light during the 1980's after the re-emergence of modernistic ideals in China.

Further reading

• This reasearch paper is written in Chinese, and it is mainly about Shi's experimental exploration about psychoanalysis novels using Jiangjun di tou, Meiyu zhi xi , Shannüren xingpin as examples. Shi emphasizes sexual psychology to describle sexual repression, human instinct, and reality in metropolis, which suggests his unique interpretation of human nature: https://www.xzbu.com/9/view-9544658.htm

• This research paper is also in Chinese. It discusses how Shi applys Freud's psychologial analysis to outline the desire of metropolitan, focusing on city people's spiritual world. Shi affirms the rationality of libido while condemns civilization alienation and spiritual crisis, and he also uses modern techiques to show his humanistic care and rational thoughts to the lonely urbanites, which help to spread modern consciousness: https://www.docin.com/p-1698420306.html

• This journal article mainly discusses the figure of the flaneur that is identified with the element of modernism across a number of cultures. The writer states that the flaneur has been recognized as emblematic of the modern city in the modernist writings of many literary traditions. In the journal, there are some examinations of two of Shi Zhecun's works, which are 'One Evening in the Rainy Season' and 'Spring Sunshine', so as to explore the nature of the Chinese flaneur: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41490981?seq=25#metadata_info_tab_contents

• This research paper introduces three modernist writers, who are Shi Zhecun, Mu Shiying, and Liu Na'ou respectively. They were labelled as the 'New Sensationists' who were opposed to the pervasive trends in the contemporary Chinese literature. These authors often portrayed the splitting forces of urban modernity during that time. For example, in Shi Zhecun's 'One Evening in the Rainy Season', he used the idea of fleeting sexual encounters to represent the urban modernity in downtown Shanghai: https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/75389239/ch_12_Rosenmeier.pdf

References

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