New Cultural Movement in Modern China Assignment Paper

New cultural movement in modern China
Student:
Professor:
Course title:
Date:
New cultural movement in modern China
In this essay, the purpose is to provide an exhaustive analysis and discussion of three different articles. These are Diary of a Madman by Lu Xun, A Slave Mother by Rou Shi, and The Sea of Regret by Wu Jianren. The relationship between these three articles is described. The central argument in this essay is that the three articles reveal the man-devouring nature and hypocrisy as well as cruelty of the Chinese feudal ethics and traditional family system. In addition, in light of the three articles, this essay discusses the New Cultural Movement in China and the influence of Lu Xun’s spirit/change.
Diary of a Madman was written by Lu Xun in the year 1918 and is a popular story in contemporary China. In this novel, the main idea is essentially to reveal and make known the darkness of the feudal system. The author effectively employed sarcasm in exposing the shortcomings of feudal ethical codes and family system (Xun, 1918). Rou Shi, who was a student of Lu Xun, was also a popular revolutionary novelist in China. A Slave Mother is Rou Shi’s most popular creative writing, in which he exposes how people in China were significantly repressed due to the feudal system. Rou Shi also expresses sympathy toward women in the rural areas (Shi, 2010). The 1906 novella Sea of Regret by Wu Jianren contains themes of challenges of patriotism and modernity. It also has themes of morality (Jianren, 1972).
Rou Shi, Wu Jianren and Lu Xun are all pioneers in the new cultural movement, which is basically a mental emancipation revolution. In this New Cultural Revolution, the key point is to promote science and democracy, and advocating the new literature (Zhesheng, 2016). It is notable that this movement is actually in opposition to the old literature. In this movement, the leaders believed that China’s biggest problem was that the Chinese people lacked democratic consciousness. In solving this problem, leaders utilized magazines and newspapers to allow people in the country to learn advanced ideas from the West (Wang, 2016; De Bry & Lufrano, 2010). In the Diary of a Madman, Lu Xun points out that the people of China have been significantly influenced by the Confucian ideas, and that these ideas were very unadventurous and conservative. The people of China needed cultural advances and learn the cultures of the West that would help alter their madman status (Xun, 1918). In The Sea of Regret, Jianren also shares these views.
In China, the principles of the New Cultural Movement were very much entrenched in Western ideas for instance technology and science, which revolted against the conventional established culture. Literature therefore experienced a notable budge from the classical style to a pertinent, vernacular approach (Dikotte, 2016). During this period, the most influential novelist were Lu Xun, Rou Shi, and Wu Jianren who wrote novels in common language in which they called for regeneration amongst the people of China. Through realism, their narratives, Diary of a Madman, A Slave Mother and The Sea of Regret communicate their revolutionary ideas.
In Diary of a Madman, Lu Xun in the prefa...