Naxi Literature Facing the New Century
This article examines Naxi ethnic literature across the twentieth century and looks toward its prospects in the new century. The author divides Naxi literary history into three periods: the rise of folk epics and writer-authored literature (before the 1920s), the emergence of new literature after the May Fourth Movement, and socialist literature. The essay emphasizes that Naxi "new literature" is defined by anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, and socialist themes; the shift from classical to vernacular Chinese; and seven "firsts," including new fiction, poetry, translation, literary theory, and writing in the new Naxi phonetic script. Crucially, new literature grew organically out of traditional folk and Dongba literature, with writers such as Zhao Yintang, Yang Shiguang, and Ge Agan cited as examples who transformed oral and Dongba traditions into award-winning written works, illustrating a process of literary transformation that surpasses its origins while remaining rooted in ethnic tradition.
This page publishes the bibliographic record and the project's summary. The scanned article text belongs to its publisher and is shown to readers under a research-use policy; it is not reproduced in this record.