Memory Lost and Revived: Zhang Chengzhi's Fictional Works on Educated Youth Sent to the Countryside

The experience of life as sent-down youth was often depicted as a poignant life journey in many contemporary Chinese literary works, the memory of which people tend to obliterate. However, in his earlier fictional works, particularly in Rivers of the North (1984), Zhang Chengzhi (b. 1948) endeavors...

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Main Author: Liu, Jane Qian
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Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
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Online Access:https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss38/10
https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1913/viewcontent/KK_2038_2C_202022_2010_20Regular_20section_20__20Liu.pdf
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spelling ph-ateneo-arc.kk-19132024-12-19T04:00:04Z Memory Lost and Revived: Zhang Chengzhi's Fictional Works on Educated Youth Sent to the Countryside Liu, Jane Qian The experience of life as sent-down youth was often depicted as a poignant life journey in many contemporary Chinese literary works, the memory of which people tend to obliterate. However, in his earlier fictional works, particularly in Rivers of the North (1984), Zhang Chengzhi (b. 1948) endeavors to revive that memory by having his protagonists revisit the locations where they were once sent, as a result of which they not only revisit “inhabited space”, but also relive “past time”. Youthful idealism which is closely associated with these geographical peripheries is revived and the memory of life as sent-down youth once again occupies a central position in the life of his protagonists, providing strength and meaning for their current life. Zhang narrates his autobiographical protagonist’s long journey to revisit the countryside as a “rite of passage”, endowing past time and inhabited space with semi-religious grandeur. In this way, earlier works written by Zhang anticipate his later conversion to Jahriyya, raising important questions on the relationship between memory and narration, Maoism and Islamism, and fiction and historiography. Zhang’s fictional works describe the confrontation of the city and the countryside, of intellect and instinct, and of civilization and ignorance, indicating an attempt to reverse the enlightenment thinking upheld by May Fourth intellectuals. His association of the country with idealism anticipates his later connection of the most impoverished geographical peripheries with religious sublimity in History of the Soul (1991). 2024-12-19T06:07:24Z text application/pdf https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss38/10 info:doi/10.13185/1656-152x.1913 https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1913/viewcontent/KK_2038_2C_202022_2010_20Regular_20section_20__20Liu.pdf Kritika Kultura Archīum Ateneo Zhang Chengzhi sent-down youth cultural memory Rivers of the North History of the Soul
institution Ateneo De Manila University
building Ateneo De Manila University Library
continent Asia
country Philippines
Philippines
content_provider Ateneo De Manila University Library
collection archium.Ateneo Institutional Repository
topic Zhang Chengzhi
sent-down youth
cultural memory
Rivers of the North
History of the Soul
spellingShingle Zhang Chengzhi
sent-down youth
cultural memory
Rivers of the North
History of the Soul
Liu, Jane Qian
Memory Lost and Revived: Zhang Chengzhi's Fictional Works on Educated Youth Sent to the Countryside
description The experience of life as sent-down youth was often depicted as a poignant life journey in many contemporary Chinese literary works, the memory of which people tend to obliterate. However, in his earlier fictional works, particularly in Rivers of the North (1984), Zhang Chengzhi (b. 1948) endeavors to revive that memory by having his protagonists revisit the locations where they were once sent, as a result of which they not only revisit “inhabited space”, but also relive “past time”. Youthful idealism which is closely associated with these geographical peripheries is revived and the memory of life as sent-down youth once again occupies a central position in the life of his protagonists, providing strength and meaning for their current life. Zhang narrates his autobiographical protagonist’s long journey to revisit the countryside as a “rite of passage”, endowing past time and inhabited space with semi-religious grandeur. In this way, earlier works written by Zhang anticipate his later conversion to Jahriyya, raising important questions on the relationship between memory and narration, Maoism and Islamism, and fiction and historiography. Zhang’s fictional works describe the confrontation of the city and the countryside, of intellect and instinct, and of civilization and ignorance, indicating an attempt to reverse the enlightenment thinking upheld by May Fourth intellectuals. His association of the country with idealism anticipates his later connection of the most impoverished geographical peripheries with religious sublimity in History of the Soul (1991).
format text
author Liu, Jane Qian
author_facet Liu, Jane Qian
author_sort Liu, Jane Qian
title Memory Lost and Revived: Zhang Chengzhi's Fictional Works on Educated Youth Sent to the Countryside
title_short Memory Lost and Revived: Zhang Chengzhi's Fictional Works on Educated Youth Sent to the Countryside
title_full Memory Lost and Revived: Zhang Chengzhi's Fictional Works on Educated Youth Sent to the Countryside
title_fullStr Memory Lost and Revived: Zhang Chengzhi's Fictional Works on Educated Youth Sent to the Countryside
title_full_unstemmed Memory Lost and Revived: Zhang Chengzhi's Fictional Works on Educated Youth Sent to the Countryside
title_sort memory lost and revived: zhang chengzhi's fictional works on educated youth sent to the countryside
publisher Archīum Ateneo
publishDate 2024
url https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss38/10
https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1913/viewcontent/KK_2038_2C_202022_2010_20Regular_20section_20__20Liu.pdf
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