Linda Pui-ling Wong: The Initial Reception of Oscar Wilde in Modern China: With Special Reference to Salome
[Author's Note: This essay was first published in Comparative Literature and Culture 3 (Hong Kong, September 1998) pp.52-73, and has been slightly revised and updated for republication here. Editor's Note: the footnotes have been replaced by endnotes signified in the text as n.1, n.2 etc.]
The reception of Oscar Wilde (1894-1900) in China is a vast, fascinating and challenging topic. A brief review of several important works dealing with Wilde and China helps readers recognize the groundwork undertaken to illuminate certain literary and cultural issues in comparative perspectives. Bonnie McDougall's noteworthy essay, 'The Importance of Being Earnest in China: Early Chinese Attitudes towards Oscar Wilde,' asserts that 'Wilde had become a well-known author in the journals of the new cultural movement [of the early twentieth century] in China' (86). She writes in her book, The Introduction of Western Literary Theories into Modern China, that discusses the influences of major Western writers and theories in China, 'Although the names of Barrie, Coward, and Wilde are primarily associated with light comedy, the social criticism in their work was apparent to their Chinese as well as Western contemporaries' (56). For this reason, plays like The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) and Lady Windermere's Fan (1893) were very popular in those days.
Marián Gálik in his The Genesis of Modern Chinese Literary Criticism adopts a different track by tracing how the Chinese writers were inspired by Wilde's philosophy of art. Important Chinese critics and writers like Guo Moruo (1892-1978) and Yu Dafu (1896-1945) were impressed with Wilde's aesthetic ideas and his anti-traditional ways of exposing vices in life through literature. But they did not like his dandyism in style and manners, except for Shao Xunmei (1906-1968) who was known as consciously imitating Western aesthetic writers. Wilde was widely known for his extravagant and eccentric clothes, which was a mark of his 'aesthetic dandyism' (Gálik 36). '[Guo Moruo] decidedly condemned such a movement which—according to him—was entirely external and had nothing to do with inner problems,' states Gálik (36). According to Gálik, two of Wilde's critical essays were popular in China, namely the 'Preface' (1891) to The Picture of Dorian Gray (which was translated by Yu Dafu) and 'The Decay of Lying' (1889). Gálik's book focuses on the influence of Western ideas on Chinese literary criticism and is invaluable for discussing how major Chinese writers modified those ideas for their social and literary purposes.
A German work by Gunther Debon, Oscar Wilde and Taoism, is also comparative by nature. Wilde read Zhuang Zi (369-286 BC) in an English translation by Herbert Giles (1889), and published his comments on it in A Chinese Sage in 1890. According to Debon, Wilde's philosophy of art was influenced by Taoism and his essays like The Soul of Man under Socialism (1891) and The Critic as Artist(1890) show traces of rewriting of Taoist sayings. The author, however, comments that Wilde did not truly understand Christianity and Taoism. He understood Christianity in 'a quite wilful way' (Debon 139) and went for the extreme, which was contrary to the moderation advocated by Taoism (Debon 152). 'Oscar Wilde would not have fallen if only he had practised one Taoist, and fundamentally Chinese, virtue: not carrying things to the extreme but stopping at a certain point of the development,' writes Debon (152). Wilde understood Taoism impressionistically and used Taoist ideas according to his interests.
This project is a study of the initial reception of Wilde in China in the 1920s and 1930s (n.1) during which new and modern modes from the West surfaced in various areas like fashion, general Westernized appearance, schools, establishment of different social and literary communities and journals (n.2). In the literary and cultural area, the well known and acknowledged influences are major writers of the West like Shakespeare, the British Romantics, Baudelaire, to name but a few. What is more significant was the Chinese intellectuals' new perception of their social and personal positions in relation to Chinese traditions, in which a different and modern mentality emerged. Such consciousness warred against the conservative Confucian mode of thinking and engendered new, or anti-traditional, visions of the concept of self. The study of Wilde's reception can be seen on different levels because it does not just start with Wilde but also other relevant Western writers. The significance of this unfolds more complex issues of searching for an anti-traditional female model and the socio-cultural reinterpretations that shaped part of the literary climate in those days, thereby helping us understand better the reception of the British Decadents in China in literature and art. I would like to propose three aspects that help account for his fortune in modern China: the rise of neo-romanticism, British Decadents and fairy tales. Salome (1894) will be given special attention because it generated different reactions and debates among the Chinese intelligentsia. That the Chinese translators translated this play properly and faithfully, as they did his plays, showed that they understood it without any problems. Intriguingly, they borrowed and re-defined Salome to serve and support their causes. This was not so much misinterpretation as reinterpretation. They appeared to politicise Salome, albeit its sensuous elements, to suit their political purposes, thereby making it more exceptional than any of Wilde's plays. I would argue that its reception was marked by contradiction and paradox. By clarifying the nature of its reception in modern China, we can better comprehend the intellectual discourses that helped reflect the modern consciousness of that age.
In the early 1920s the Chinese readers already knew about Wilde, who was introduced to China under the broad umbrella of xinlangmanpai [neo-romanticism]( n.3) or xinlishangpai [neo-idealism] yet also under a sub-category of the Decadents. Neo-romanticism, as used interchangeably with neo-idealism and understood by the Chinese readers, was an extension of the British Romanticism and covered a spectrum of intellectual and artistic disciplines like painting, music and literature (n.4). According to their understanding, it started with the Pre-Raphaelites in the Victorian period (n.5). 'The Decadents' as they are often referred to were the group of poets in the late nineteenth-century, considered by contemporaries to be outrageous in their literary practices, outlooks and private lives. The excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures even to the point of ruin in some cases was their blueprint. As a reaction against the materialism, uncertainty and Victorian prudishness of the fin-de-siècle, the English Decadents advocated the pursuit of beauty in their poetic practice, a tenet handed down from the Romantics and also the Victorian romantics. Writers like Shao Xunmei and Ye Lingfeng (1904-1975) copied their lifestyles and works. Reading the British Decadents helped provide for the Chinese readers an aesthetic escape and fostered a deeper thirst for romantic yearnings.(n.6) Doubtless, most young people in modern China were excited about them who looked radical, innovative and were apposite models for new ways of expression in modern China.
Different writers time and again affirmed Wilde's significant and unique role in the literary and artistic realm. As early as in 1920, Zhang Yugui translated and published an article in which Wilde was regarded as a brilliant comedy playwright. The Chinese writers, as seen in their commentaries and essays, praised Wilde for being a phenomenal literary figure of thenineteenth-century, especially for his leading position in the Aesthetic Movement. Their reviews and comments on Wilde's work basically were consistent with those of the Victorian readers. Readers of both cultures, regardless of the time and cultural lapses and gaps, understood ideas like social satire, hypocrisy, conservatism, social injustice, and class discrimination shown in his plays.
Yu Dafu translated the 'Preface' to The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1920 but dared not publish it because he was not sure if he understood it correctly in English (437). Yu Dafu, an important modern Chinese writer in his own right, was also well-remembered for his introducing the Decadents in the early 1920s in a popular essay, 'Jizhong yu Huangmianzhi (The Yellow Book) de renwu' ['Focusing on the People of The Yellow Book', 1923] (n.7). According to Ye Lingfeng, Yu Dafu was considered by his contemporaries to be a romantic and decadent writer because of this article (Reading Notes, Vol. 1, 342). He never owned any copies of The Yellow Book. Shao Xunmei, however, did as he had bought them in England at a high price (Reading Notes, Vol. 1, 342).
In this essay, Yu Dafu traced the rise and fall of The Yellow Book and regarded the aestheticism of Wilde as a conscious reaction against the obstinate traditions in Victorian England. Writers involved with The Yellow Book were talented, romantic and exhibited decadent tendenciesin their works. A number of writers were mentioned but Wilde, Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909) and Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898), who were evidently the major writers of The Yellow Book and also of the Aesthetic Movement, were emphasised. Beardsley, Yu Dafu believed, was responsible for the reputation of this magazine. His special beautiful technique and imagination were unprecedented and the nudes in his paintings were appealing for they carried a message of nonconformity. Of all his works, his illustrations for Salome were absolutely unique (Yu 95-96). Wilde, like other Decadents, clearly did not go unnoticed but captured the attention and also the fantasy of many Chinese readers.
Mao Dun (1896-1981), a prominent modern writer, agreed in an article in 1921 that Wilde was the representative of such a movement. To him, the aestheticism as thought of and practised by Wilde was bold, exotic, sensual and romantic. In 'Critical biography of Wilde,' Shen Min focused on Wilde's leading role in promoting aestheticism in England and America. Wilde was an artistic giant, as Huang Rikui commented, and his aestheticism that encouraged sensual pleasures was a revolution in its own right (2).
In addition, the Chinese intellectuals appreciated the poetic sensibility and wit in Wilde's short fiction. In those days, there were numerous translations of the works of the Grimms and Hans Andersen. The popularity of fairy tales in the literary community was reflected in the numerous commentaries and translations published in various newspapers and journals. Critics usually compared the fairy tale writers and Wilde was often partof the discussion. In Zhong Yun's article in 1922, it was commented that Wilde wrote his fairy tales with the same rich and witty style and diction as he did the plays, and therefore, his fairy tales were more profound and suitable for adults than just for children (1). Zhao Jingsheng followed up what Zhong Yun wrote about the difference between Andersen and Wilde by discussing that Andersen's writings were seen to be more understandable and approachable for children, while Wilde's were deep and abstract but had more literary values (1).
In his response to Zhao Jingsheng, Lu Xun (1881-1936) remarked that Andersen was more 'naïve' than Wilde (n.8). By that, Lu Xun pointed out the simplicity and purity in Andersen but sophistication and wit in Wilde. He agreed with Zhao that Wilde's fairy tales were beautifully written and profound in insights. Lu Xun recalled that when he was young he liked reading Jinghuayuan [Flowers in the Mirror], which is a famous Chinese novel about exotic adventures ('The Oasis' 2-3). The author, as he read Wilde's fairy tales, was reminded of his love for this Chinese classic and saw the same kind of beauty and exoticism in both. All in all, the Chinese writers agreed that Wilde was at his best in writing fairy tales, and Wilde was a role model of living according to one's aesthetic philosophy by renouncing the world and its codes. Many of his familiar tales, such as The Happy Prince, and The Fisherman and His Soulwere translated into Chinese. The beautiful yet remote realm in his stories seemed a perfect escape for those writers who were more romantic by nature, while the literary sophistication also spoke to those who were more concerned about society and politics. The strange combination of dreamland and reality, and the multi-layered meanings in Wilde's fairy tales were particularly appealing, aesthetically and philosophically, to intellectuals even like Lu Xun who was renowned for his unsympathetic position on the more sentimental writers in his day. The irony and literary depths in the fairy tales of Wilde certainly moved him.
That Wilde's fortune in China is closely connected with Beardsley's must be noted. Readers may not fail to feel in his paintings the sense of decadence, which is a strange mixture of horror and beauty. Many of his works feature literary figures or episodes. Some of his contemporaries considered him obscene and improper for the public because of the naked figures in his work. Writers like Tian Han (1898-1968), Lu Xun, Ye Lingfeng and Zhang Wentian (1900-1976) introduced Beardsley eagerly to the Chinese public. Tian Han was the editor of Nanguozhoukan [Nanguo Weekly] and had some of Beardsley's paintings reproduced in his magazine either as cover designs or illustrations (Reading Notes, Vol. 2, 296).
Chinese readers knew more about Western knowledge and literature through Japanese contacts and sources. It is because Beardsley stood high in favour with Japanese writers and artists that the Chinese readers were more convinced of his talents and enthusiastic about learning from him. More importantly, it was the spirit of iconoclasm that prompted the young intellectuals to inform themselves of what was fashionable in other countries like Japan. As with many writers who had contacts with Japanese scholars, Lu Xun enhanced his knowledge of the Pre-Raphaelites through his admiration of a Japanese artist, Fukiya Koji (1889-1979), who was also a follower of Beardsley. In Selected Paintings of Fukiya Koji (1929), Lu Xun reproduced some of Fukiya's paintings, translated some of his poems and explained how he appreciated and imitated Beardsley (Lu Xun on Arts 56). Fukiya was popular in China, because his Japanese touches moderated Beardsley's style and made the otherwise strong and shocking Beardsleyan lines more romantic and accessible to the Chinese youths. Lu Xun was one of the many intellectuals who were strongly touched by such a different yet outstanding artist, whose paintings were about hell, not heaven (LuXun on Arts 65). He ironically agreed with such a depraved attitude as expressed in art when he commented the Beardsley an beauty was of a devilish and decadent kind but was also 'chuncui de mei' [pure beauty] (Lu Xun on Arts 65). For the same reason, Beardsley appeared to be a right model for young people because of his unusual way of painting. The naked bodies in his works were regarded as icons in themselves declaring independence from moral and social constraints. His view was marked by contradiction and paradox, like Salome's reception as mentioned in my introduction.
In the same year, Lu Xun published a catalogue of twelve paintings by Beardsley, Biyazili huaxuan [Selected Paintings of Beardsley]. This was a most important book on Beardsley as his paintings were introduced in an organised and focused manner, not just reproduced separately as illustrations. According to Lu Xun, Beardsley was the most widely known painter in black-and-white painting and greatly influenced Chinese modern art (Lu Xun on Arts 65). Unique in the unstable society of 1890s, Beardsley was incomparable in the area of decorative arts and a pioneer of 'xinde yishu' [new art]during the fin-de-siècle (Lu Xun on Arts 67). In Beardsley's paintings, the folly and ugliness of the upper class and people indulging in sensual pleasures are often shown. Therefore, he was regarded as an indecent and offensive artist by some of his contemporaries. This painter, seen through the eyes of Lu Xun and others, was a talented and artistic rebel who was the spokesperson for uninhibited beauty and desires. Moreover, the more modern outlook of his works made the painter stand out and gave an unadulterated modern feeling and atmosphere to the spectators as well.
Ye Lingfeng, a writer-illustrator whose illustrations were popular and seen in major magazines like Hongshui [Deluge] and Chuangzao yuekan [Creation Monthly], credited Tian Han with introducing Beardsley to him (Reading Notes, Vol. 2, 296). Some of his illustrations were so clearly Beardsleyan that readers could not miss the resemblance. He confessed that eversince he became a student of the arts, he loved Beardsley so much that he began to imitate him (Reading Notes, Vol. 2, 295). However, Lu Xun accused him of copying a great artist blindly and called him derogatively a 'Chinese Beardsley' (Lu Xun on Arts 287-289) and also, once more sarcastically, 'a first-rate Chinese writer' (Lu Xun on Arts 150). He attacked what he thought Ye Lingfeng was promoting: 'xinliumang zhuyi' [new rascalism] ('The Literary Trend in Shanghai at a Glance' 90). A 'new rascal,' according to Lu Xun, was a combination of 'zaizi + liumang'[a talented scholar + rascal] ('The Literary Trend in Shanghai at a Glance' 90). Ye, in the eyes of Lu Xun, was educated and fairly scholarly but imitated the artistic features of Beardsley superficially and missed the spirit and essence, thereby being an embarrassment to other intellectuals. Instead of capturing the truly decadent and aesthetic character of Beardsley, Ye distorted it into a low and obscene style. From the way he was criticized, Ye Lingfeng was in fact representative of another generationof intellectuals different from other serious writers like Lu Xun himself. His was bourgeois, unctuous and frivolous in appearance and behaviour, hence an educated 'rascal,' unlike the sophisticated dandy Wilde who was taken as an indisputable Decadent hero. As a matter of fact, 'new rascalism' was prevalent in film and popular fiction in his day ('The Literary Trend in Shanghai at a Glance' 90).
The socialist inclination was getting more and more prominent but sentimental intellectuals like Ye were gaining popularity too. The leftist tendency had always been there. The influence of Russian Literature of theearly twentieth-century, for example, had a great impact on certain Chinese writers such as Lu Xun and Mao Dun (n.9). In the 1920s, there was the rise of a group of writers with romantic tendencies. As time went by, the romantic lineage extended but surfaced in a different form in the lives and works of 'scholar-rascals' such as Ye. Beardsley carried with himself the European spirit of the fin-de-siècle and China, with its social and political upheavals, gave the intellectuals a sense of expectancy and great uncertainty. Near the time of death, he asked that his paintings, which he considered obscene, should be burned (n.10). According to Ye Lingfeng, those paintings were illustrations for Lysistrata (Reading Notes, Vol. 2, 293-294). However, his Chinese admirers thought otherwise as they saw in him a different spirit that was suitable for them at that juncture in Chinese history. Though they were in the early twentieth-century for the Chinese intelligentsia, it felt like the fin-de-siècle. Doubtless, some young men were committed to give themselves to their country; others, who probably were better-off, buried themselves in romantic pursuit. Ye Lingfeng, in the eyes of Lu Xun, belonged to the latter, and he was an undiscerning disciple because he followed the trend of claiming to serve the working class by painting the proletariat Beardsley-like ('The Literary Trend in Shanghai at a Glance' 91). With his pseudo-proletariat tendency, Ye was considered to have trivialized Beardsley first of all and also those serious writers working for the proletariat.
A brief digression is necessary here. A professor at the University of Beijing involved in academic research in psychology and education, Zhang Jingsheng (1888-1970), was active in the academic community at large, and became very extensively known with the publication of his book Xingshi [Sex Histories, 1926]. This book contains several stories of young people, which are followed by Zhang's analysis. This highly controversial book is considered the first of its kind in China. The author stated, 'I only offered this book to be read by the liberal-minded . . . I therefore proclaim in advance that if in the future this book is changed into one of lewdness, the responsibility should be borne by those who didn't allow it to be studied openly. The fact that Sex Histories is not a lewd book but rather one of science and aesthetics will be apparent to men of discernment at a glance' (9). The translator, Howard S. Levy, wrote in 'Translator's Foreword' in 1967: '[The book was] confiscated twice in the twenties in Shanghai and Hangchow, translated into Japanese in 1951 only to be prohibited in the following year, and considered forbidden reading in Taiwan even to the time of this writing' (3). A taboo in those days, the book was attacked severely for its obscene subject matter and its contentious reception led to the closedown of Zhang's book store, 'Meide shudian' [Book Store of Beauty], which sold books about fleshly pleasures. It definitely is an interesting (yet different) topic to discuss its impact on the Chinese intellectuals, especially issues concerning women's rights. Though some people must have made the wrong use of the book, Zhang as a scholar was seen to be far ahead of his contemporaries, valued and respected highly the human and civil liberties of women whose rights and freedom were popular topics of discussion in those days. Even if Zhang's intention was sincere, the undesirable destiny of his book informed a deeper problem among the general Chinese public. In the midst of all the striving for newness and modern-ness in China, there was not without any boundary—a book of this kind was offensive to the Chinese propriety. Zhang Jingsheng, as well as his subjects in his book, was open and bold enough to explore and discuss a forbidden area. Freedom in love was a major concern for the Chinese young people, which often implied sexual freedom as well. When Zhang's book was published in Japan, Nakayama Motosuke also wrote: 'Once this book appeared, all of Chinese was [sic] startled by it. Young man [sic] and women read it with wild enthusiasm and pleasure as if it were glad tidings from Heaven. Older people made wry faces about it on the surface because of the old morality, but inwardly treasured it more than the youth, scrambled (to get pieces) and read it avidly' (6). Zhang in effect stirred up a debate which was close to the hearts of the youths.
He made not only himself more widely known but also Beardsley, because on the cover of Sex Histories, his work, 'The Woman in the Moon,' was reproduced. Actually, this was one of his illustrations for Salome.(n.11) Beardsley must have been an important artist whose paintings Zhang regarded appropriate for expressing his feelings. Due to the notoriety of Sex Histories, Beardsley's popularity, already impressive in China, paradoxically rocketed up. His Chinese devotees agreed that his illustrations for this Biblical adaptation were his best and the most well known.
And this brings us to Wilde's controversial play, Salome. During the 1920s and 1930s, there were several Chinese translations published. For examples, one by Xu Baoyan, published in 1927 by Guanghua shuju in Shanghai; and another by Wang Hongsheng, published in 1937 by Qiming shujualso in Shanghai. All these translations are clear, highly readable and faithful to the original. In the eyes of the Chinese youths, this play was a beautiful and artistic example to illustrate the aestheticism of Wilde who was one of the heirs to the romantic lineage from the nineteenth-century poets to the Victorian romantics, i.e., the Pre-Raphaelites (Shen Min 11). The romantic flair and mysticism were seen shared by Wilde and the Pre-Raphaelites, especially Dante Rossetti (1828-1882). The love of beauty was summed up in 'art for art's sake' which was a most essential belief of the Aesthetes. Salome was seen to be a manifesto of such a concept.
Considered a most iconoclastic play, Salome was well received by Chinese writers because of its overt defiance against those in authority. Several important essays that exalted this play are Yu Cang's 'Yinguo jindaijudi xiaochang' ['The Growth and Decline of Modern English Drama'], ShenMin's 'Wang Erde de pingzhuan' ['Critical Biography on Wilde'], Xu Diaofu's'Xiandai mingzhu baizhong shulue' ['Synopses of One Hundred Modern Masterpieces'],Guo Zengai's 'Mangchu yu aide gongguo' ['The Common Ending of Blind Touch and Love'], and Zhang Mingqi's 'Xinlangmanpai de xiju' ['Neo-romantic Drama'],to name but a few. These Chinese critics unanimously praised Salome for being the best and most romantic play ever written by Wilde. Indeed this play had an immense impact on modern Chinese literature.
Xu Diaofu in his 'Synopses of One Hundred Masterpieces' gave not only a detailed synopsis of Salome, but also translated a few parts of the play (89-91). He thought Salome's dance and her final kiss were the most passionate, provocative and iconoclastic feats, and the overriding sensuality and horror captivated the hearts of many Chinese writers. In the conclusion, Xu Diaofu mentioned that the translation of Douglas was the best (91), which was the version read by many Chinese readers in those days. Salome's dance was extensively noted and regarded as her signature performance. Xu Zhimo (1896-1931) in a poem, 'Yuming de luoji' [The Logic of Fate], for example, re-creates the image of the dancing femme fatale: 'The day before yesterday, she was dancing in a big hall lit up like a crystal palace-- / How shiny her stockings were! / How smooth her hair was! / The smiles on her mouth drove the men in the entire hall insane' (213). The woman in this poem is surely as captivating and bewitching as Salome, and dances with all her might and passion in order to win the souls of men. The sense of impending doom and deception is captured as well.
Guo Zengai in his article, 'The Common Ending of Blind Touch and Love,' described the two sides of emotions in the world, indifference (as people touched things but felt nothing, hence the title), and love. The author ended up wishing to be like Salome who passionately strived for love (3). His desire could represent that of others who were fascinated with Salome. They looked to her to stand for what they cared for most—liberation and love. The reception of this play was therefore instructive because it helps readers understand the depth of the emotional responses and needs of the Chinese intellectuals, rather than the practical and social purposes Tian Han claimed to see in it, which hare now examined.
Tian Han translated the play in 1922 and it marked the beginning of his translation career (Works of Tian Han, Vol. 16, 584). The play was staged successfully in Nanjing in 1929 by his theatrical group. The lady who played Salome was Yu Shan and was famous overnight. The actor who played Iokanaan was even more impressive, in Ye's view, because his voice was simultaneously strong, powerful, rough and enhanced the force and assertiveness when he accused Herod of his sins (Reading Notes, Vol. 1, 286). In the account of Ye Lingfeng, the play was staged one time in Shanghai in a Ningbo Association but he did not give the year. That the success of the Chinese translation of Salome certainly encouraged Tian Han, as it had met with difficulties and controversies in Europe. Therefore, Tian Han saw his success as a triumph of youthful iconoclasm and the pursuit of freedom ('Art and the Attitude of an Artist' 196). Tian Han had read the English translated version with illustrations by Beardsley. To him and those who appreciated this play, Salome was highly poetic, romantic and sensual in every aspect, both the text itself and its illustrations. He proclaimed, 'The characters have the same spirit. Their eyes are fixed upon one thing. Their ears are not distracted from any voices. They seek what they lovewith their own lives and die for it. You people who love freedom and equality should also learn from their focused and fearless spirit so as to pursue what you love' ('Our Own Criticism' 342-343). Each character in the play was seen to show the same spirit but for a different reason: for Iokanaan it was the love for God that sustained him to resist those in authority; for Salome, it was Iokanaan she desperately desired. They both at the end died for what they believed in—Iokanaan for the sacred love (God) and Salome for sensual love. Tian Han called the love of Salome 'sexual love' ('Two Youthful Periods' 114) (n.12).
In the play, Salome passionately praises the beauty of Iokanaan's body, even after his death:
Thy body was a column of ivory set upon feet of silver. It was a garden full of doves and lilies of silver. It was a tower of silver decked with shields of ivory. . . . I saw thee, and I loved thee. . . . I am athirst for thy beauty; I am hungry for thy body; and neither wine nor apples can appease my desire.. . . I was chaste, and thou didst fill my veins with fire. (Wilde 65)
The unusual force, sensuality and horror are reflected in her words. Tian Han considered this not just the desire of Salome, but also a wild outcry of the hearts of Chinese youths ('Two Youthful Periods' 114). As such, Salome was challenging a prohibited subject in the feudal Chinese society, especially the privileges of women. In this context, it concerned the freedom to love and realise an individual's physical passions and desires.
Salome's final speech on the beauty of Iokanaan's body and her momentous kiss were ultimate acts defying conventional moral norms. Many writers like Ye Lingfeng regarded the kiss scene as the pinnacle of the play when Salome exclaimed, 'Ah! thou wouldst not suffer me to kiss thy mouth, Iokanaan. Well! I will kiss it now' (Wilde 64). This was the highlight when Salome held up the severed head of Iokanaan and kissed his mouth. It must have been stunning and shaking for the Chinese audience to see such an iconoclastic scene. What Tian Han encouraged the readers to appreciate most was the untamed yearning for love and beauty. In his view it was important that the intellectuals and the masses in China should understand what Salome represented was suitable for China, because the people needed to have the courage and tenacity to express themselves and persist, just like the princess who often expressed her desire to kiss Iokanaan, even at the expense of both of their lives.
Moreover, art was seen to be able to unite people together to fight against social injustice and poverty. This was one of the missions announced by Tian Han: 'The members of Nanguoshe [Nanguo Society, a theatrical group] are the kind of people who love peace and freedom. They are willing to stand by the oppressed and cry out on their behalf' ('Our Own Criticism' 343). Tian Han was advocating art for the sake of society and for the proletariat and Salome was a vehicle for which the actors could articulate their hopes and dreams on behalf of the underprivileged. This play was a suitable and stylish choice, as he explained—'real drama for the masses doesn't mean that it has to be vulgarized' ('Our Own Criticism' 343). To him, this was a new play, (its subject matter being Biblical),and appropriate to help launch China into a new era, which was particularly important to the long oppressed lower class. Salome's outrageous behaviour inspired Tian Han greatly to help the masses to pursue and stand for what was needed. He explained why he wanted to stage this play: 'My translation of Salome was successful when it was published in 1922. It has been seven or eight years now and it hasn't yet performed. And now we just have found very good actors playing the roles of Iokanaan, Salome and Herodias. Rebelling against the standard social attitude is most obvious in this play. This is why we have chosen to perform this play' ('Art and the Attitude of the Artist' 197). His claim indeed was romantic and nonconforming. Tian Han was very impressed with Salome's passionate outcry as described by Wilde: 'The red blastsof trumpets that herald the approach of kings, and make afraid the enemy,are not so red. . . . There is nothing in the world so red as thy mouth'(29). Tian Han, to serve his poetic purpose and justify the validity of Salome as a social play, believed that it was in such an outcry, 'the red blasts of trumpets,' that the play heralded a new age for China and called for the attention of all classes in the country ('Our Own Criticism' 341).
Tian Han added social significance to the play in order to defend his aim of staging it, which was to him an artistic way to unite different classes together for a noble and national purpose. However, could peasants or those who never read literature be expected to understand aplay like this? Even though he thought Salome was not about individualism, his interpretation was indeed individualistic and questionable. Paradoxically, he was not so much politicising the play as romanticising it further. His choice of Salome betrayed a strong sentimental undercurrent, albeit his claims of social interests. When the play was performed in 1929, the power of the socially-minded intellectuals was already quite strong. The playwright was romantic in the early stage of his career and was attracted to plays like Salome but he had to answer to the communal demands and therefore, he 'socialised' Salome to justify its performance and claimed that he was unifying people of all classes through art. Though Tian Han did not change the plot and characters, he changed the discourse on the play to vindicate it.
Chen Chujun commented that it was not beneficial to the general public to see the characters cry out only after they fell out of love and it was better to stage plays directly related to social problems (quoted. in 'Our Own Criticism' 344-345). Tian Han, serious about the future of China, appreciably saw the potential of Salome and also that of his fellow countrymen to assert and unite themselves. However, readers may wonder if the working class or the commoners could really understand any social implications of Salome, as perceived by Tian Han. What Chen Chujun wrote was quite reasonable—it sounded uncongenial but brought up the question of how far one could go in the choice of appropriate subject matter for the masses. It should be noted that theatre-going in those days was for a selected few, a certain class only. Comparatively, literary publications were easily available and affordable to more people, to the general public.
Chen Chujun was speaking against Tian Han's concepts of art and not Salome. His position was more practical and realistic than Tian Han's, as regards the probability of artistic works being educational means for the masses. Tian Han saw art as a common language between people of different social and educational backgrounds. Though his dream was noble, the general public might not fully comprehend the complexity of Salome, let alone the social message in it. Tian Han was sincere in promoting art to be a possible unifying agent for different classes but when dealing with the illiterate, or the peasants, and those who scarcely knew literature, Salome was questionably the appropriate play to put across a political theme.
In Salome, the theme of love, the dazzling and strongly assertive characters, and the stylistic diction and expression possibly overshadow any overt political meanings. Tian Han's emphasis on Salome's kiss was misleading. Though love is an important part in life, it is disastrous when it gets possessive and manipulative. That Salome was selfish and used her beauty to obtain power seemed to go unnoticed by Tian Han or other writers. The 'sexual passion' of Salome, as written by Tian Han, should not be one's moral guide and the only means to achieve freedom. 'Those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it,' goes the saying (Job 4:8).
Salome incontestably presented a different, daring and outspoken image of a woman for many Chinese intellectuals, whereas Xu Zhimo in his article 'Guanyu nuzi' [About Women] expressed the tension between personal, artistic expression and social boundary as he recalled his impression on Yu Shan, the lady who played Salome (15-16). Coming from a wealthy and prominent family, Yu Shan was talented enough to be offered the title role in the play but went through many obstacles because her family had thought that Salome was too indecent for a well-bred lady. One night during the performance, just when Yu Shan was about to say, 'I will kiss thy mouth, Iokanaan,' she caught a glimpse of her mother sitting in the front row and staring angrily at her. Instead of saying the line with might and passion, she was lowering her voice and slurring over the line. Xu commented that though in reality there were many objective obstacles preventing a 'new' or 'modern' woman to realise herself, the psychological barrier was less visible yet more destructive. The talented actress Yu Shan could have played her role more powerfully and dramatically but for the angry gaze of her mother, which represented a tacit censorship. That was the moment when the actress yielded to traditions at the expense of artistic expression ('About Women' 16). It was therefore a failure if the challenging qualities of Salome could not be fully expressed. Salome was then not so much a theatrical challenge as a psychological one since she embodied anti-traditional feminine qualities. To be a 'new' woman, in the view of Xu, she needed to behave with psychological abandonment and be thoroughly courageous and persistent.
That Salome was well loved by the more well-off writers reminds readers of what Chen Chujun suggested: the play was for the educated only and not the illiterate. To average readers, the theme of possessive and destructive love seems to stand out more than other possible social issues in it. Nevertheless, in the interest of reading Salome in the Chinese context, the Chinese writers were looking for a psychological outlet and model which spoke to their personal needs but not the genuine moral and humanitarian aspects. The Chinese writers who were more romantic and sentimental even saw Salome as an essential resolution to the class problems in society. Actually the play appealed to their deeper romantic yearning and it was not necessarily the social overtone they claimed to see in it. Salome undeniably excited and inspired those young Chinese people who had personal and emotional dreams, albeit a small and 'selected' group. Doubtless, this play provided a romantic appeal to bourgeois intellectuals such as Tian Han, Xu Zhimo and Ye Lingfeng, who could afford to see the play and greatly praised the play, but mainly its aesthetic aspects. Tian Han might not be able to use this play to reach out to as many as he hoped, but the success of his translated text and the play helped to promote a romantic trend in China.
Did the Chinese writers re-define Salome? To a great extent they did, especially in their interpretations of the play's social implications. The Chinese translations were all faithful and the translators obviously understood the literary aspects of the play without any misinterpretation or misunderstanding. However, to meet the needs of society, different themes and purposes were given to the play. Justifying their interpretations in broader social terms, the Chinese writers were generally fascinated with Salome who certainly looked radical, nonconformist, modern and exemplified a new mode of thinking and behaviour. As such, there was more revision than imitation in terms of meaning and goal. The femme fatale was then turned into a super heroine. Exoticism in particular was clearly noted in Salome in which the Biblical context, the Hebrew style of court nobles and fashion were undeniably attractive. Herod's empire represented the centre of sensual pleasures, personal dreams and desires. The violent and horrible passions were personified in Salome, who lived only for herself, whose unwavering and insubordinate disposition was a decidedly stunning and captivating icon to the Chinese intellectuals. The characters in this play were seen to have been given over in the sinful desires of their hearts to do what should not be done. Where the spirit of love and self-discipline is, there is freedom. However, Tian Han's claims of freedom, equality and determination in this play did not lead to any hope and life but deeper frustration and confusion.
Marián Gálik states the importance of interpreting literature in a broader basis:
A literary work is not a part of literary context only, butof very diverse contexts, one of which, the material context, might stand as an inclusive denomination for them all, the social one probably being the most important. . . [The] literary context may and should be studied in its relations not only to the social, but also the philosophical (ideological),psychological and other contexts. ('On the Social and Literary Context in Modern Chinese Literature of the 1920's and 1930's,' 9)
The Chinese interpretation of Salome links up with this parameter as the initial reception of Wilde in modern China is closely related to Gálik's emphasis on the study of social context in comparative literature. That the Chinese writers did not only discuss the play's literariness but also its social redefinitions affirms its significance to be a special product of that age. In cross-cultural interpretation, when a play is received in a different cultural context, there can be different understandings and implications owing to the socio-cultural changes and tastes of the receiving country. It is appropriate for readers to understand and interpret it in an expansive manner. Salome was a medium through which the Chinese writers voiced their romantic outcry and accumulated for themselves discourses in accordance to their desires and causes. As aforementioned, to legitimatize the standing of the play, Tian Han presented a more social and political defence for it. Such discourse made it appear acceptable to the taste of the socially-conscious: it had to be transformed into a more national and patriotic discourse for it to be recognized as fitting for serious social purposes. Therefore, Salome did not just generate a sensation because of its subject matter but also the controversial discourses upon it. Those writers who were more romantic in their personalities and writings naturally accepted it with favour. Tian Han tried to appeal to both groups of Chinese intellectuals—the socially-conscious group and the romantic group. In a larger scheme of things, Wilde's Salome was truly a centre of attention.
The British Decadents, as well as the European counterparts, were filled with confusion and uncertainty during the fin-de-siècle. Ironically, Tian Han and other writers like Xu Zhimo and Shao Xunmei, in their zealous pursuit of modern-ness and advancement, embraced it (as well as the Decadents) as a landmark and reinterpreted tuifei (decadent) and weimei (aesthetic) as desirable qualities for their country. Could it be their obsession with romantic ideas that drew them to such redefinition of British Decadence? Their redefinition was intentional and the appraisal of Salome was paradoxical. The Chinese writers further mystified her image—what looked like modern and progressive was in fact regressive. Tian Han and his sympathetic friends were not so much elevating her as suppressing her all the more. Though she was regarded as a new woman rebelling against traditions, she was only an aesthetic object of their discourses. It was the theatrical Salome that they were enthusiastic about. Their ideas of her were still conventional—beautiful, dangerous and thirsty for love. She was confined to the boundaries of traditional masculine framework. They were doubly aestheticizing and alienating her when they considered her death to be a noble and nonconforming gesture to fight for herself. After all, the death of a beautiful and dangerous woman was a poetic and inspirational subject.
Leo Lee writes about decadence:
My own point of departure is to consider decadence as aesthetic style and to place it in the urban cultural context of Shanghai. Viewed in this light, decadence was definitely one of the characteristic features of Shanghai modernist literature, both fiction and poetry. The inspiration certainly came from Europe, and the works of such figures as Baudelaire, Verlaine, Schnitzler, Wilde and Beardsley were quite popular. (21)
Salome could be seen not just as a theatrical and aesthetic fantasy but an urban one on the part of the Chinese writers as well. This was a masculine fantasy among the more romantic writers who had the means and resources to know about decadence and discussed the play with an apparent 'bourgeois' overtone.
In the discursive labyrinth of Salome, there were decadence, entertainment and fascination for an exotic femme fatale and a modern city as a surrogate royal court in which the Chinese intellectuals indulged in their own pursuit of romantic dreams. Readers can see a discrepancy in writers like Lu Xun who was too socially-conscious to copy personally the decadent attitude in lifestyle and outlook, as the Decadents believed principally in an anti-social tenet and set out to be rebels. In a wide array of literary and cultural values manifested by the British Decadents, the Chinese writers took what they considered suitable for their imaginings. With further research, it would be interesting to see if Salome's cold, aloof yet passionate and sophisticated image, helped anticipate the Xin ganjue pai [new sensationalist school] in the 1930s during which there was an extended force of the residual influence of the Pre-Raphaelites, and a stronger force of the Decadents and the Symbolists.
Works Cited
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Gálik , Marián. The Genesis of Modern Chinese Literary Criticism (1917-1930). Trans.
Peter Tkac. Bratislava: Veda, 1980.
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1920's and 1930's.' Modern Chinese Literature and Its SocialContext. Ed. Goran Malmqvist. Stockholm: Nobel Symposium Committee, 1975. 7-45.
Guo, Zengai. 'Mangchu yu aide gongguo' [The Common Ending of Blind Touch and
Love]. Chenbao fukan [Morning Supplement] 11 May 1924:3-4.
Huang, Rikui. 'Wenxuede taolun' [Discussion on Literature]. Chenbao fukan [Morning Supplement] 7th February 1922: 2.
Lee, Leo Ou-fan. 'Decadence: A Tentative Essay on the Relevance of a Concept in Modern
Chinese Literature.' Chinese Literature and European Context. Ed. Marián Gálik. Bratislava: Slovak Academy of Sciences, 1994. 19-26.
Levy, Howard S. 'Translator's Foreword.' Sex Histories: China's First Modern Treatise on Sex Education. By Zhang Jingsheng. Trans. Howard S. Levy. Japan: N. pub., 1968. 1-4.
Lu Xun. Lu Xun lun meishu [Lu Xun on Arts]. Beijing: Renminmeishu chubanshe, 1982.
---. 'Luzhou' [The Oasis]. Chenbao fukan [Morning Post Supplement] 31st March 1923: 2-3.
---. [Remarks]. Chenbao fukan [Morning Post Supplement] 9th April 1922: 1-2.
---. 'Shanghai wenyi zhi yipie' [The Literary Trend in Shanghai at a Glance]. Lu Xun sanshi nianji [Works of Lu Xun in the 1930s]. Vol. 6. N.p.: Xinyi chubanshe, 1968. 88-104.
Mao Dun. Mao Dun quanji [The Complete Works of Mao Dun]. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1991. 22 vols.
McDougall, Bonnie S. 'The Importance of Being Earnest in China:Early Chinese Attitudes towards Oscar Wilde.' Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia (1974-1975): 84-98.
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Nakayama, Motosuke. 'Foreword.' Sex Histories: China's First Modern Treatise on Sex Education. By Zhang Jingsheng. Trans. Howard S. Levy. Japan: N. pub., 1968. 6.
Shen Min. 'Wang Erde de pingzhuan' [Critical Biography on Wilde]. Xiaoshuo yuebao [Short Story Magazine] 12.5 (May 1921): 1-12.
Tian Han. 'Liangge shaonian shidai' [Two Youthful Periods]. Tian Han sanwenji [Prose of Tian Han]. Shanghai: Shanghai jindaichubanshe, 1978. 107-116.
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Wilde, Oscar. Salome. Trans. Lord Alfred Douglas. New York: Dover, 1967.
Xu, Diaofu. 'Jindai Mingzhu baizhong shulue' [Synopses of OneHundred Masterpieces]. Xiaoshuo yuebao [Short Story Magazine] 18.10 (October 1929): 80-91.
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Zhao, Jingsheng. 'Tonghua de taolun' [Discussion on Fairy Tales]. Chenbao fukan [Morning Post Supplement] 9th April 1922: 1.
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1. There are numerous definitions of the periodisation of this era. For more information, consult Chow Tse-tsung, The May Fourth Movement: Intellectual Revolution in Modern China (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1960); Merle Goldman, Modern Chinese Literature in the May Fourth Era (Massachusetts: Harvard UP, 1977); Marián Gálik,'The May Fourth Movement After Seventy Years: Some Remarks at the Openingof the Smolenice Symposium,' Interliterary and Intraliterary Aspects of the May Fourth Movement 1919 in China (Bratislava: Slovak academy of Sciences,1990) 9-19; and Leo Lee, The Romantic Generation of Modern Chinese Writers (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1973).
2. Criticism and reception of Wilde of the post-Mao Zedong era need further research and are not the scope of this paper.
3. All translations are mine unless otherwise stated.
4. There are numerous Chinese essays published on neo-romanticism in modern China. Consult for example, Xi Chen, 'Xiandaide wenxueshangdixinlangmanzhuyi,' [Neo-romanticism in Modern Literature], Dongfang zazhi [The Eastern Miscellany] 17.12 (June 1920): 66-75; and Zhang Jiazhu, 'Xinlangmanpaide xiju' [Neo-romantic Drama], Chenbao fukan [Morning Post Supplement]12 Dec. 1927: 19.
5. Feng Zikai (1898-1975) wrote several articles on this topic. He also compared Dante Rossetti (1828-1882) with Wang Wei (699-795). Consult his essays 'Beiou nanoude meishu' [The Arts of Northern and Southern Europe] 255-268, 'Xinlixiangpai' [Neo-idealism] 236-240, and 'Xianshi lixiangzhuyide huihua' [Paintings of Modern Idealism] 343-351; in Feng Zikai wenji: Yishujuan (1930.5-1934.11) [Essays of Feng Zikai: On Arts (1930.5-1934.11), vol. 2 (Zhejiang: Zhejiang wenyi chubanshe, 1992).
6. Baudelaire and Rimbaud were also famous Decadents and had impacts on the modern Chinese writers. In the interest of the present project, only the English Decadents are considered.
7. Consult Yu Dafu, 'Jizhong yu Huangmianzhi (The Yellow Book) de renwu' [Focusing on the People of The Yellow Book], Yu Dafu quanji [The Complete Works of Yu Dafu], vol. 5 (Zhejiang: Zhejiang wenyi chubanshe, 1992) 92-116.
8. The word 'naïve' is in English in the text. This response of Lu Xun was printed right after Zhao's article. See Lu Xun, Chenbao fukan [Morning Post Supplement] 9 April 1922: 1-2.
9. For more information on this subject, see Ng Mausang, The Russian Hero in Modern Chinese Fiction (Hong Kong: The Chinese UP,1988).
10. This episode was described in 'Piyacilushige danqiezhe' [Beardsley was a Coward], Xiaoshuo yuebao [Short Story Magazine] 19 (March 1928): 443-444.
11. This was also noted by Ye Lingfeng in his Reading Notes, Vol. 2, 297.
12. The words 'sexual love' are written in English in the text.
v Professor Linda Wong is an Associate Editor of THE OSCHOLARS. She teaches at Hong Kong Baptist University.
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