ABSTRACT
Literature has always been closely aligned with political power in China. A man of literature, a literary personality, has always been held in very high esteem throughout Chinese history. A man of literature is considered a man of ideas, ideals and vision. The Chinese litterateur has also been performing, yet another very important function. Surveying the literary scene in China post-1978, several distinct trends and tendencies emerge prominently. Chronologically speaking, the crusaders of May Fourth Movement – the thought revolution component of the movement – systematically popularized the three gentlemen, who were all born in the West. Soul Mountain is an expansive account of human freedom and man’s imagination, which seeks the inner-meaning or meanings of the individual self. The 1980s saw the more vigorous movement on the literary front. Confucius and China’s cultural heritage was an undeclared and un-discussed ‘enemy’ of Joseph Needham.
