ABSTRACT
This essay by an older writer sheds light on the crucial relationship of the contemporary Chinese author with traditional literary and artistic forms. Only Jia Pingwa, Han Shaogong, and Zhong Acheng have shown in their writings an awareness that, beyond "coming to terms with the past" (meaning the recent, Communist, past), the contemporary Chinese intellectual must rediscover the more remote past and relate to it anew, as part of his or her quest for identity.
