The Literature Book

310

See also: Romance of the Three Kingdoms 66–67 ■ Call to Arms 222 ■

Playing for Thrills 336

I

n the xungen, or “roots-

seeking,” movement that arose

in Chinese literature during

the mid-1980s, writers tried to

reconnect with folk culture. The

movement took its name from a

1985 essay by Han Shaogong, “The

Roots of Literature,” which called

on writers to seek out forgotten

sources of creativity. While some

xungen authors examined China’s

ethnic minorities, others took a

fresh look at the indigenous values

within Taoism and Confucianism.

For decades, Chinese writing

had been on a strict diet of realism.

In harking back to folk influences,

the xungen authors also introduced

elements of the supernatural. The

new work brought Chinese writers

to the attention of the literary world

again for the first time in decades.

Redefining modernity

One of the movement’s most

famous books is Red Sorghum

by Guan Moye (1955– ), better

known by his pen name Mo Yan

(“Don’t Speak”). Red Sorghum is

named after a rare wheat crop,

whose color symbolizes vitality,

bloodshed, and stability. Set in

northwest China’s rural Shandong

Province, the book follows one

family from 1923 to 1976, through

the Japanese occupation, the

Communist Revolution, and the

horrors of the Cultural Revolution.

As a true “roots-seeking” novel,

Red Sorghum incorporates mythical

and folkloric elements, and its break

with the chronological structures

that accompanied the realistic

tradition gave new energy to

Chinese literary modernism. ■

HEAVEN AND EARTH

WERE IN TURMOIL

RED SORGHUM (1987), MO YAN

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

“Roots-seeking” (xungen)

movement

BEFORE

1981 “A Preliminary Enquiry

into the Techniques of Modern

Fiction,” an essay by future

Nobel Prize-winner Gao

Xingjian, lays the groundwork

for the xungen movement.

1985 Lhasa-based Zhaxi

(Tashi) Dawa’s story “Tibet:

A Soul Knotted on a Leather

Thong” draws upon Tibetan

folk culture and traditions.

1985 Wang Anyi’s novella Bao

Town minutely depicts harsh

village life in northern China.

1985 Beijing writer Ah Cheng

publishes Romances of the

Landscape, describing border

areas far from “civilization.”

AFTER

1996 In A Dictionary of Maqiao

Han Shaogong uses etymology

and vignettes to examine life

in the Cultural Revolution.

Lines of scarlet figures shuttled

along the sorghum stalks to

weave a vast human tapestry.

Red Sorghum

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