Chapter Two
“There Are no Camels in
the Koran”: What Is Modern about
Modern Chinese Poetry?
Michelle Yeh
In 1951, in response to the criticism from fellow Argentines that his
work lacked local color, Jorge Luis Borges wrote an essay titled “The
Argentine Writer and Tradition.” Referring to the Islamic prophet
Mohammed, the writer observed that “in the Arab book par excellence,
the Koran, there are no camels,” for “[Mohammed] knew he could be
an Arab without camels.” “What is truly native can and often does
dispense with local color” (1999: 423).
The issue Borges addressed more than half a century ago sounds all
too familiar to students of non-Western literature. In the case of Chinese
literature, debates throughout the history of Modern Chinese Poetry
have almost always revolved around cultural identity or “Chineseness.”
In other genres such as fiction, visual art, and film, we have witnessed a
similar tension between being native and being international, between
being national and being modern. The crux of the issue is representa-
tion. When literature is interpreted primarily, if not exclusively, as an
index to, and mapping of, the culture or nation of its origin, it is only
logical for readers to measure it by how well it represents; hence, the
expectation of “local color,” the demand for “authenticity.”
A comparable situation obtains in the current interest in and market
for “ethnic writers” in the United States. Rarely do we find a non-white
American writer who is not primarily identified by his or her ethnicity,
such as Asian American, African American, or Native American.
Although some writers consider such labeling limiting, they accept it
with little protest, as ethnicity has become a common organizing
principle for the publishing industry, college curricula, conferences,
even literary awards, readings, and festivals. Each ethnic category has
become a “niche,” a selling point in the literary market.9781403976079ts03.qxp:Layout 1 11/9/07 11:08 AM Page 9