One of the beginning: 1874 Wang Tao
Wang Tao founded Circular Daily in Hong Kong from 65438 to 0874, and served as editor-in-chief, and set up a supplement, Hehebu (Quotations on News Economy as Zhuangbu), which was the starting point of Hong Kong's literary history. Wang Tao is "the founder of journalism in China" (Cohen), "the first newspaper commentator in China" (Dongyang) and "the earliest journalist in China" (Sun Yangjun). His poetry anthology (Poems of Henghuaguan), Liaozhai novel (Miscellaneous Notes of Song Yin), etc. ) and essays (essays, travel notes, prefaces and postscripts) are considered to be the best in China's modern literature (Xinping).
Taking this as the starting point of the history of Hong Kong literature, its similarities with China traditional literature are of course prominent. A large number of works and genres resolutely excluded from the general "new literary history", such as classical poetry, note novels, Yuanyang Butterfly School, and even "Tongcheng School is fallacious, choosing to learn from evil", will inevitably be included in the narrative of literary history starting from this. But the problem is not that simple. Liu Yichang particularly emphasized that Wang Tao wrote Cantonese in the Hong Kong Supplement on the basis of a trip to Wu people in Hong Kong, and emphasized that he helped Dr. Legge to translate the Four Books and Five Classics into English and also translated the Marseillaise into Chinese, which was "the earliest foreign poem translated by China people". Liang Bingjun keenly pointed out the "impure" nature of this "source":
Wang Tao is not like a traditional scholar. He runs a newspaper, is a political commentator, writes obituaries in Cantonese and acts as an interpreter. This "central" figure seems to agree with the "marginal" point of view: he takes a different attitude from traditional culture, he is interested in folk culture, he spreads western learning to China, and promotes China classics to the west.
Taking this as the "starting point", the "marginal" or "multiple complexity" of the history of Hong Kong literature can be presented. However, as the calm conjunctions ("you" and "you") in the sentence indicate, the power relations between many "yuan" in the history of Hong Kong (literature) seem a bit ambiguous here. Wang Hongzhi's keenness lies in revealing Wang Tao's complex tendency. He pointed out that this man who sought political asylum from the British because he fled the Central Plains had many positive comments on the rule of law in Hong Kong, and on the other hand, he gently criticized the inequality of foreigners in China, but "the most important thing to understand his Hong Kong story is to read carefully the personal letter he wrote when he first arrived in Hong Kong". A closer look reveals that Wang Tao hates Hongkong from climate, diet and language to people who are not from China. It is doubtful whether the "Hong Kong Story" based on the traditional "Huayi Pavilion" can become the beginning of the history of Hong Kong literature.
The second beginning: 1927 Lu Xun
You will ask, isn't "alienation" ("being" and "not being") to a place, a society and even the whole world the root of "modern narrative"? Lu Xun's The Story of China (Diary of a Madman and True Story of Ah Q) is based on "enlightenment" and "hating it", doesn't it constitute the "starting point" of China's modern literary history? Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that Lu Xun's two speeches in Hong Kong on 1927 were regarded as the "beginning" of the history of Hong Kong literature, which undoubtedly successfully constructed the connection between Hong Kong literature and another great Chinese tradition. Hong Kong literature is defined as a branch of China's new literature. Among them, the historical basis of "hard" is that 1928, a new literary magazine, is said to be the direct product of Lu Xun's trip to Hong Kong. More prudently, those two speeches had no direct or little influence in those years, but they had far-reaching influence in the long run.
The greatest temptation for writers of literary history from such a starting point is that they can readily apply the narrative mode established by China's new literary history: from economic base to superstructure, with realism as the mainstream and modernism as the wings, so they calmly arrange the background of the times, tell the writer's life, reveal the theme of the works and appreciate the artistic characteristics. Of course, it is not without adjustment and revision, such as combining popular literature extensively, exploring the local flavor ("Hong Kong flavor"), and even putting in a larger "literary pattern" (such as "world Chinese literature") to show the "trend" and so on. Scholars in Hong Kong often marvel at how quickly and economically the monograph on the history of "production" literature in the mainland is, but they don't know that this is often due to the skillful narrative mode. The most surprising thing is that the ideological trend of "rewriting the history of literature" since the 1980s seems to have no influence on scholars studying Hong Kong literature.
Top three, four, five, six: ...
Here is a ready-made induction to save space. When will there be Hong Kong literature? ——
At present, there are four different opinions: first, Hong Kong literature existed in the 1930s and 1940s, represented by Wang Jiancong and Yi Mingshan from the mainland, and their views were expressed in The History of Hong Kong Literature and An Introduction to Hong Kong Literature respectively; Secondly, he thinks that Hong Kong literature did not appear until 1950s, with Huang Jizhi as the representative. He thought that the literature in 1930s and 1940s was "in Hong Kong" and "it is impossible to establish the personality or subject of Hong Kong literature". "The awakening of the subject consciousness of Hong Kong literature began in the 1950' s", because in the 1950' s, "the changes in the structure and economic form of Hong Kong residents contributed to the growth of Hong Kong literature". Thirdly, it is believed that Hong Kong literature came into being in the middle and late 1960s, which can be represented by Zheng Shusen. He said, "It should be in the middle and late 1960s, when we began to get rid of the frontier and core, gradually localized and gradually shaped the subjectivity. This is the result of the vigorous growth of the younger generation, and the writer's temporary residence in the south has become a long-term settlement. " Fourthly, it is believed that Hong Kong literature gradually emerged after 1970s, with Huang Kangxian as the representative. He said, "Hong Kong's society is basically an immigrant society, so it is difficult to produce literature with local color." In the 1970s, the original generation began to become the majority of the society, so the so-called Hong Kong literature began to appear.