“National Uniqueness leads to the path of Global Acceptance”
The Relationship between 3 Chinese Nobel Literature Prize Laureates and Their Influences on the Evolution of Chinese Society
Literature may seem to have little influence on political disputes and economic crises in the world, but it has a huge influence on human beings. Literature can strongly reflect the progress and development of a society. Chinese society especially has undergone huge evolvements and developments in the past 100 years. Through its literature, China has gone from a foreign, new country to a more well-known, recognized country in the Western world. Three writers that have really influenced this change are Pearl Sydenstricker Buck, Gao Xingjian, and Mo Yan. These writers were all awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature at different time periods, and through this award, they have introduced China and Chinese life to the rest of the world.
Pearl Sydenstricker Buck was a fully American writer that was born in West Virginia in 1892 that was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938. Her works depicted life in the more rural parts of China as well as her own life as an American living in Zhenjiang, where she spent most of her life. Zhenjiang, a small city near Shanghai, was an extremely economically prosperous city in the early 20th century because of its location; it was close to both the capital at that time, Nanjing, and Shanghai. During the early 20th century, there was very little interaction between China and the western world. China was not too familiar with the Western world and vice versa. Pearl S. Buck’s works were the connection between the Western world and China back in those times. Writing in English, she translates the new, foreign world that she lives in for the rest of the world, and her work was extremely well received in the US and many other countries. She uses her writing and as well as actions to communicate the relationship and confrontation of Eastern and Western cultures.
Many famous Chinese writers have read Pearl S. Buck’s works and the Chinese translation of her winning novel, “The Good Earth” came out in China in 1932. However, her work received much criticism from Chinese writers. Her work is still written from the perspective of an American, and even though she has a deep understanding of Chinese culture and literature, she still does not depict the reality of Chinese life as well as a Chinese person would. However, her work has opened the eyes of Westerners to Chinese culture for the first time. They gave Westerns a new perspective on China and helped them to better understand life in the new, foreign, unfamiliar land in Asia.
In 2000, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the first writer to write in Chinese; Gao Xingjian. Even though Gao Xingjian was a French citizen, he was born and raised in China. Just like Pearl S. Buck, his works tend to be less celebrated in China but are highly regarded elsewhere in Europe and the West. His work brings the connection between Chinese culture and world culture even closer than Pearl S. Buck’s works did. As the world became more developed, there were better translators that could translate books written in foreign languages more accurately to different world languages. Being a Chinese writer, Gao Xingjian’s works were translated into many different languages, therefore receiving much attention. The vast majority of Chinese writers in the late 20th century were still reflecting on China’s political culture from an ecological perspective. Gao Xingjian’s works, however, were not limited to the reflection of China’s political culture from the perspective of human relations. Instead, they talk about efforts to unify life care, ecological care, and universal care. An example is his winning drama, “Wild Men”, written in 1985. In the late 20th century, China has started to become more open to the world. As the economy and society progressed in China, at the same time, there were many brilliant and well-known Chinese writers that were starting to be recognized by the rest of the world. For example; Shen Congwen and Bei Dao have both been nominated for the Nobel Literature Prize. In the early 20th century, this would be impossible.
In 2012, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to a fully Chinese writer. Someone who didn’t speak English, Mo Yan was a local Chinese writer that wrote about life in rural China. Mo Yan’s prestigious award has many aspects of significance. First of all, it improves the attention of Chinese literature and art in the worldwide literary world, which represents that Chinese literature and art are highly valued in the West. It is also an affirmation of Chinese literature and art. But most importantly, through his many plays and novels, Mo Yan expresses China’s cultural heritage to the world. His works showed that literature is rooted in the local culture. The content of any award-winning works is closely related to the root and soil of that writers’ growth. Mo Yan is a representation that the root of Chinese culture is in the local culture. China has become more and more open in the 21st century, and the world also has a deeper understanding of authentic Chinese culture through Mo Yan, a fully Chinese writer. Mo Yan’s works like “Red Sorghum” are also highly valued by the Swedish literary world. His novel, “Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out”, was published in Sweden in 2012 and was highly recommended at the Gothenburg Book Fair.
These 3 writers represent the progression of Chinese literature from the earliest 20th century to the late 20th century and finally until the present 21st century. Their works reflect the respective historical backgrounds and customs of China as well as the progress and development of Chinese society in the past 100 years. The world’s understanding of China has gotten deeper and deeper. From Pearl S. Buck to Gao Xingjian to Mo Yan, through the analysis of the historical background of the three authors’ awards, we can get the conclusion that national uniqueness leads to the path of global acceptance.
