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Xin Zhongguo weilai ji
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Wikipedia article
'Xin Zhongguo weilai ji' (, translated as 'The Future of New China') is an unfinished 1902 novel by Liang Qichao. Liang described a China in 1962 that was a utopia,Keane, John. 'The Life and Death of Democracy'. Simon and Schuster, June 1, 2009. , 9781847377609. Google Books [https://books.google.com/books?id=An1e2F_ZWhgC&pg=PT636 PT 636]. "Liang Qichao (1873-1929), the peasant boy[...]respect for the constitution." a world power,Wang, David Der-wei. "Return to Go: Fictional Innovation in the Late Qing and the Late Twentieth Century" (Chapter 7). In: Doleelov-Velingerov, Milena and Oldich Krl (editors), Graham Martin Sanders (assistant editor). 'The Appropriation of Cultural Capital: China's May Fourth Project' (Volume 207 of Harvard East Asian monographs, ISSN 0073-0483). Harvard University Asia Center, 2001. , 9780674007864. Chapter start: p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=UXgtRcknND0C&pg=PA257 257]. CITED: p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=UXgtRcknND0C&pg=PA286 286]. wealthy,Wang, David Der-wei. "Chinese literature from 1841 to 1937" (Chapter 6). In: Sun Chang, Kang-i and Stephen Owen (editors). 'The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Volume II: From 1375' (Complete Cambridge histories online. Literary studies). Cambridge University Press, 2010. , 9780521855594. Chapter start: p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1jGz0qXPgM0C&pg=PA413 413]. CITED: p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1jGz0qXPgM0C&pg=PA453 453]. Confucian, and a constitutional monarchy. He believed that it would be in a "perfect mood".
Author David Der-wei Wang described most of the novel as "an instructional political treatise where the virtues of various modes of government are lucidly debated."Horner, Charles. 'Rising China and Its Postmodern Fate: Memories of Empire in a New Global Context' (Studies in security and international affairs). University of Georgia Press, 2009. , 9780820335889. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=debJCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA103 103].
Plot
In the preface the author apologizes for what is paraphrased in "The Unfinished History of China's Future" by John Fitzgerald as a "rambling quality" due to the inability to put it in a particular genre due to its content, as it was not a historical account, nor was it an orthodox fictional story.Fitzgerald, p. 23-24.
The novel begins at the ending and then continues at the beginning of the story; this is called the "flashback technique", a concept that was newly introduced in late Qing China.Wang, David Der-wei. 'Fin-de-sicle Splendor: Repressed Modernities of Late Qing Fiction, 1849-1911'. Stanford University Press, 1997. , 9780804728454. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ng6YRePhbRMC&pg=PA304 304]. The novel begins in 1962, or year of Confucius 2513,Fitzgerald, p. 21. and shows a 50th anniversary celebration of a Shanghai-based reform movement in which a World Expo and peace treaty signings occur.Wang, Ban, p. 2-3. The celebrated reform movement was the Constitutional Party (xianzhengdang), an umbrella movement of secret society and pro-reform or revolution groups. By 1962 there were three political parties: the Patriotic Self-Government Party (Aiguo zizhidang), the Liberal Party (ziyoudang), and the State Power Party (guoquandang). These three are decentralist, individualist, and centralist, respectively. The "Hungarian Conference" resulted in the 1962 International Peace Conference, held in Shanghai in January of that year, in which China is recognized as the most dominant country on Earth. In the story people in foreign countries, including those in the West, study Chinese to get ahead, and foreign students in China remain in China after the conclusion of their studies, causing brain drain in the West.Fitzgerald, p. 22.
In Chapter 2, Kong Hongdao (; meaning "expander of the Dao"), style name Juemin (; meaning "enlightener of the people"Wang, Ban, p. 3.), a 72nd generation descendant of Confucius, gives a lecture in which he discusses how a reformed China came to be, covering the period 1903-1962. The lectures are called "China's History These Sixty Years Past." The audience includes 1,000 students from various countries, with each one having total fluency in Chinese. Kong Hongdao had studied in the West before returning to China. Kong Hongdao describes the genesis of the Constitutional Party (Xianzheng dang), which guides China's reform.Wang, Ban, p. 4. Kong Hongdao states that China underwent six stages before being reformed, but the novel describes only a portion of the first stage. Kong states that the stages are: preparation, autonomy of various districts, unification of all of China, building things and producing goods, competing with other countries, and finally becoming the global superpower. The historical overview is a small portion of Kong's lecture.Fitzgerald, p. 23.
This section includes debates between the characters Huang Keqiang () and Li Qubing (), who discuss whether China should experience a revolution or be reformed.Wang, Ban, p. 3-4. Huang Keqiang's father, an academic from Guangdong, sent him and Li Qubing to Oxford University; due to the Hundred Days Reform they do not immediately return to China, and they experience anti-Chinese sentiment from the Europeans. On their way back to China, Li Qubing argues the Qing Dynasty government needs to be abolished, while Huang Keqiang argues it can be reformed. The debates, transcribed verbatim within Kong Hongdao's speech, make up the bulk of the speech. Huang Keqiang and Li Qubing established the Constitutional Party.
There is no more content after Chapter 5. David Wang stated that the absence of the middle portions of the storyline means that the novel does not have its "progressive 'narrative'" or "the 'historical' time to make the future accessible and intelligible."
Development
Liang Qichao, who believed that China would later adopt a parliamentary democracy as its form of government, was influenced by the 1888 American novel 'Looking Backward' and the 1886 Japanese novel 'Setchubai' ("Plum Blossoms in the Snow"). As part of his research he visited Australia for six months. Liang Qichao considered making two sequels, with the second being 'The Future of Old China', and the third being 'New Peach Blossom Spring'. The second would be about a China that decides not to adapt to a new era and therefore falls into ruin, while the third would be about the descendants of Chinese who had established a civilization on an island away from China; these people come back to China to improve it.
According to Chlo F. Starr, the author of 'Red-light Novels of the late Qing', the novel stopped publication due to a decline in the sale of serial magazines.Starr, Chlo. 'Red-light Novels of the late Qing'. BRILL, April 24, 2007. , 9789047428596. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=7CCwCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA241 241]. David Wang stated in 'Fin-de-sicle Splendor: Repressed Modernities of Late Qing Fiction, 1849-1911' that Liang Qichao had changed his vision of how a new China would be established, and that this and several other factors resulted in a halt in the novel's development. David Wang concluded that the fact that the book was never completed was "symptomatic of Liang's inabilities to come to terms with a new temporal paradigm."
Reception
David Wang compared this novel with 'Taiwan Straits: 1999' by Yao Chia-wen arguing that they both had nationalistic elements.
Several works had been inspired by this novel, including 'Xin Zhongguo', a 1910 novel by Lu Shi'e;Wang, David Der-wei. 'Fin-de-sicle Splendor: Repressed Modernities of Late Qing Fiction, 1849-1911'. Stanford University Press, 1997. , 9780804728454. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ng6YRePhbRMC&pg=PA306 306]. and 'New Era', a 1908 novel by Bigehuan zhuren.Wang, David Der-wei. 'Fin-de-sicle Splendor: Repressed Modernities of Late Qing Fiction, 1849-1911'. Stanford University Press, 1997. , 9780804728454. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ng6YRePhbRMC&pg=PA306 306]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=ng6YRePhbRMC&pg=PA307 307].
Notes
References
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* ([https://www.webcitation.org/6m8kPaJsQ?url=http://web.archive.org/web/20161119170350/http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/docserver/16737423/6/1/16737318_v6n1_s2.pdf?expires=1479575846&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=559A21AEE8713F5C128178376BD3AC4D Archive]) [http://journal.hep.com.cn/flsc/EN/10.3868/s010-001-012-0002-1 See at Frontiers of Literary Studies in China]
Further reading
* . "[https://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/nichigen/issue/pdf/9/9-05.pdf ]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20161120213836/https://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/nichigen/issue/pdf/9/9-05.pdf Archive]). Hosted by the University of Nagoya.
Category:1902 novels
Category:20th-century Chinese novels
Category:Chinese political novels
Category:Qing dynasty novels
Category:Future history
Category:Fiction set in 1962
Category:Unfinished novels
Category:Utopian novels
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