Postmodern Features of Chinese Internet Literature

by 林洁 (Lin Jie)
and 邱薛辉 (Qiu Xue Hui)
Wenzhou Medical College

Abstract

The easy access to the Internet and the availability of computers are the prerequisites for the creation and rapid spread of Internet literature. Chinese Internet Literature derives its origin from the Petty Bourgeoisies, a people treated in this paper as the product of China’s reform and opening to the outside world. This new Chinese literary form, featuring postmodernism, is illustrated first by the definitions of Internet literature, Chinese Internet Literature and Postmodernism, and then by a briefing on the characteristics of Petty Bourgeoisie and its relations with the postmodern Chinese Internet literature. Then, the “Wu Li Tou” style, typical of postmodern Chinese literary electronic works, is elaborated on and exemplified in terms of its wording, structure and choice of plot. Finally, some explanation is offered as to the make up of the writer group of Chinese Postmodern Internet literature and their influence on Chinese society.

Introduction

The development of literature can be quite slow at a certain period of time, but it sometimes grows rapidly (Chen Hai Yan Essays of The World’s Novels, 2003). This kind of phenomenon could be partly accounted for by the change in the medium of literature; for instance, much progress in literary transmission was made in the transition and the replacement of the oral form with the handwritten one, and later of the handwritten form with the printed. The booming and spreading of the World Wide Web, a relatively new and powerful means of publication, is now presenting Internet literature as totally novel and competitive literary genre, with an overwhelming trend that is challenging the traditional ones. Thanks to its directness, convenience and quickness, as well as open and interactive characteristics, Internet literature, though young member as it is in literary circles, has gained enormous popularity in China in the past few years. Currently, most literature websites have already opened up a section or a column for Internet literature, involving innumerable writers and readers, which inject a vigorous and dynamic life to Chinese contemporary literature.

1. What is the Internet literature?

Generally speaking, Internet literature includes all kinds of works published on the Internet on such sites as the BBS, personal websites or web-based libraries, just to name a few (Essays of The World’s Novels, 2003, Chen Hai Yan). It differs from traditionally printed literature in its particular publishing medium and ways of distribution and presentation. In other words, the Internet is a work’s carrier, its body and its soul and serves as a publishing house, a promoter, distribution channel and a bookshop in a far more efficient way. Meanwhile, among its various styles and genres, including prose, poems, novels, essays and diaries, fiction, documentary, romance, knight-errant, horror, adventure and legend, the Internet novel is the most representative and widespread because it can demonstrate, to the largest extent, the writing skills of the author. Some examples of this are “ Live As A Human” (《活得像个人样》), “The First Close Contact” (《第一次亲密接触》) and “Smiling Love” (《微笑情缘》), which were so well received by electronic readers at their debut that they were the hot topics of widespread discussion in no time.

To further clarify this new cyber literary form, it is necessary to make a subtle distinction between two kinds of Internet literature: one is traditional printed works that are adapted as electronic books after they are published in printed forms in the market, and the other is works which originate from the Internet. The latter, of course, is regarded as the genuine electronic literature that we will focus on here.

2. What is Postmodernism?

Postmodernism is a movement that started in the 1960s in Western countries and prevailed in the fields of arts, culture and philosophical ideology in the 1970s and 1980s, and abandons the previous standard forms of literature (Movie Review, 2004, Song Wei Jie). Typical writing offers plots or stories that are fictional, visual, more diversified and abstract and open, or are unrestrained by patterns, objectivity, styles, grammar and writing materials, and often have a sense of uncertainty, frequently implying critical sentiment.

The Postmodernism of the Chinese character did not have its identity established and influence felt until the 1990s, and was fostered by that fact that Chinese literature was then in the transitional period. However, the fact that Realism and Romanism, Modernism and Postmodernism co-existed and stimulated the Chinese readers and authors to look at things from different perspectives is a blessing rather than a curse as we recall from this period of history, for such multiple influences, interactions and conflicts between Western and Chinese thoughts and philosophies provided rich soil for the seeds of postmodernism with Chinese characteristics to sprout out of and grow and mature. Internet literature, a mirror of what is happening in the society and everyday life, thus has witnessed the development of Chinese postmodernism.

3. The Petty Bourgeoisie in Chinese Internet literature

Since China’s reform and opening up to the outside world, its economy has developed at a rapid but rather unbalanced pace in different regions and areas. The gap between the high-income and the low-income is still widening. Under such a social background lives a group of people who are labeled as Petty Bourgeoisie, or Xiaozi in Chinese. Then, what is the definition of Xiaozi?

In 1930s China, this term was usually used to refer to those who had weak will, swinging on political views and paying more attention to personal gains and losses. Later, during the Cultural Revolution, it became a reactionary political force against the Party. Xiaozi in China used to contain a pejorative connotation, a word related to capitalism with a sense of despising and hatred, and it did not clear its bad name until recent years. Now Xiaozi is denotes a certain group of people who have in common views of society and life styles, interests, preferences and so on (The Society, 2001.8.Yang Qian, Liu Xi Ming).

The definition, general and comprehensive so far, seems not of much help in understanding. Now, let’s have a look at what kind of people the Xiaozi are in order to gain insight into this classifying word

Firstly, most Petty Bourgeoisies are well educated and cultured, most likely to have received higher education at home or abroad.Greatly influenced by Western culture in one way or another, they like to speak their mother tongue together with English pet phrases. This argument can be easily supported and illustrated by Internet novels, such as “Smiling Love” written by JAVA. It begins like this:

想起自己玩网路也有好一阵子了，早过了什么青涩的时期了，现在上站顶多查查信箱，偶尔回回信，大部分的时间，我在网路里，只是一名身份未明的罢了，选几个自己喜欢的版逛逛，累了就去欣赏使用者名单，看看别人的和昵称，觉得特别的，就query 一下，也是一件挺有趣的事情。(I am quite experienced in surfing on the Internet and am no longer fond of chatting online. Now I only send and reply to e-mails sometimes. I am an identified guest only and spend most of my time browsing something interesting in the BBS. But I will query someone who has a particular id or funny surnames)

想起前些天里，正在看某篇感人的可笑的story 时，有个人page我了。天啊！这个id早八百年前开始就没人会page了，怎么今天撞邪了，突然出现一个讨厌鬼咧！看了对方的Id和昵称还有query 档，引不起我的兴趣，而且对方的上站次数，天啊！只有一次！(I remember sometime ago when I was reading a funny and touching story, a person sent me messages online. Man! I haven’t received any message for a long time. What’s wrong? Why did a nuisance jump out suddenly? It didn’t interest me at all because he was such a greenhand)

In the several lines, the author mentions English words like talk, guest, query, story and page, which present the reader with a picture of a net citizen’s experience of online chat.

Further examples can be found: 跟她是在网路上认识的。怎么开始的？我也记不清楚了，好像是因为我的一个plan吧！那个Plan是这么写(I met her online. I cannot remember how we started. Maybe thanks to my a few lines dropped on the BBS) 因此我寄mail给她，她回mail给我，我又回她回给我的mail，她再回我回她回给我的mail (So I send E-mails to her and she replies and then I reply to her, by which we keep close touch with each other)自从他在20岁那年被他的女友fire后，他便开始游戏花丛。(Since he broke up with his girlfriend at the age of 20, he began to indulge in a degenerate life)然后她们会问：(“Your place or my place”) (“The Fist Close Contact”,1998, Cai Zhihuan). These citations above, though written in Chinese, all contain some English words: talk, guest, id, query, etc.

Other words as my god, super, yeah, thank you, gentleman, lady, baby, cute and numerous of other expressions of other foreign languages like KAWAII in Japanese, OBA in Korea and BONJU in French appear frequently in Internet literature that best reflect the characteristic of the Petty Bourgeoisie.

Secondly, Petty Bourgeoisie have relatively stable occupations and earn a considerable sum of income more than the common salaried person, belonging to the middle class but still far from being upper class. They may not have to possess both cars and houses, but they would like to live in a decent apartment and take taxis wherever they go. Besides the considerable income, the particular taste, temperament, moral quality, and aesthetic value is also considered the essence of their well-being as Petty Bourgeoisie. In terms of hobbies related to art, Petty Bourgeoisie like collecting classic DVDs, watching Western movies (but only those of the original editions). Sometimes, they are instead in hot pursuit of ancient civilization and retro styles. But the most distinctive aesthetic advantage is their well-developed music appreciation. We find the best proof in the Internet novel written by Cai Zhihuan named after an Israeli folk song Erev Shel Shoshanim (Lyrics: Moshe Dor; Music: Yosef Haddar), which serves as a preface of the novel. Also, in Cai’s prose “the serenade of the green island”, a whole lyric serves as the transitional paragraph. In the novel “live as a human” by Nie Pan, the author clearly records the full lyrics of the “good old days,” the main idea is:

You cannot discover I am lonely; I still take you flying away;

You cannot find I am lost; I still take you roaming about;

I dance and sing where you are gone;

I bring the paradise you missed onto your palm

I always dream a woman of your shape;

I always dream a woman I deeply loved.

So, the euphonious music and sentimental lyrics are the symbols of the Petty Bourgeoisie. The same is true with Internet literature. They may be regarded as a supplementary device widely employed by the postmodernism writers who are eccentric, imaginary and unbidden in their writing.

Moreover, Petty Bourgeoisies always have some pet phases. For example, “I only drink black coffee with ice cube” or “I only have such kind of pizza in one restraint.” “I only” … seems to have become their habitual turn of phase. And they are fond of and use brand names, and frequent renowned coffee bar, first-class restaurants, wear leading brands of clothes, perfumes and so on. They spend so much money on luxury goods for daily use that are considered to be seeking after an extravagant style of life. Starbucks and various bars often appear in postmodernism Internet literature. In the novel “Give Me a Cigarette” the author creates a setting focusing on a famous bar named DIMOND, where the male protagonist falls in love with a girl who is providing illegal sexual services. At the same time, the author begins their love story with one night stand (一夜情), which represents the viewpoint of a typical Petty Bourgeoisie, which is to be a single white or golden collar rather than be restrained by wedlock, or to stick to the doctrine “Double income and no kids”. Evidence of such outlook on life could also be found in the novel “Live as a Human being”.

All in all, the Petty Bourgeoisies are a group of people who are self-centered, hedonistic, exocentric, paradoxical and of pre-mature consumption. They live harmoniously in China’s society as a special group and instill fresh elements into the Internet literature of the Chinese identity, inviting both worship from the younger and more progressive generation and criticism from the older and more conservative.

4. The Wu Li Tou style in Net Literature.

4.1 What is Wu Li Tou?

The most distinct difference between Internet literature and traditional literature is that the net literature develops a unique writing style called Wu Li Tou which means absurd, meaningless and an anomaly approach to expressing one’s opinion. Wu Li Tou is a newly coined word in Chinese, but it is the best term to convey the connotation of the Internet literature under the influence of post modernism. The word was first introduced by some film reviewers to remark on Stephen Chow’s (a famous comedian in China) acting style as Wu Li Tou. Because of Chow’s popularity among TV viewers or filmgoers, the Wu Li Tou style immediately became a popular symbol of fashionable young people and had its influence felt in literature, especially Internet literature. It is not only because the majority of authors of Internet literature are young people but also that the Wu Li Tou style actually contains the soul of post modernism—freedom. It is not only the writing style but also the thoughts behind the seemingly simple word order show Wu Li Tou is an important writing style of post modernism writers. Popular and unique as the Wu Li Tou style is, with a thousand kinds of relations with post modernism, it is hard to give a fairly enlightening definition to such kind of post modernism literature.

4.2 The three styles of Wu Li Tou

Though not easy to define this unique writing form, it helps to base its clarification on some of the features common to many such net writers’ works. We can illustrate this style in terms of its paragraph organizing, wording and plot selecting.

4.2.1. The Wu Li Tou style in paragraph organizing.

In paragraph organizing, net writers always imitate other noted writers’ most famous passages or paragraphs that are familiar to readers. Such content and writing technique will keep readers in suspense and lead him to trying to find the answer by reading on and on.

Among all those whose works have always been adopted, the most popular is definitely Lu Xun. The reason why Lu Xun’s works are the favorite adaptations of the net writers is that his works, so satiric and mordant, are especially appropriate in a modern society which has so many restriction and rules, for those that can express his opinions following Lu Xun’s unique style to present and create a feeling of abreaction between the authors and readers.

There is a very famous short passage entitled “Deep blue of the Ocean”, which has a lasting influence on the Internet, making use of Lu Xun’s famous short novel “The Diary of a Madman”. The net writer grounds his on this classical novel, but fills in with some unique ideas about some pop stars and soap operas.

Here are some examples of sentences found in “The Diary of a Madman”:

“今天晚上，很好的月光。我不见他，已是三十多年；今天见了，精神分外爽快。才知道以前的三十多年，全是发昏；然而须十分小心。不然，那赵家的狗，何以看我两眼呢？我怕得有理。” (“The Diary of a Madman” 1918.4. Lu Xun) (Tonight the moonlight is bright. I haven’t seen it for almost 30 years. Today I meet it, I am extremely happy. Then I realized that the past 30 years was a period of chaos. I should be very carefully because the dog of the Zhao family watched me more than once. I have the reason to feel afraid.)

The net writer wrote his passage like this “那天晚上，很快的网速。我不上网，已经三十多小时，今天上了，感觉很是惊讶。才知道三十多小时以前，流星禁播，于是藏好买来的碟。不然，那广电总局，没收了怎么办呢？我怕得有理。” (“The Diary of a Madman” 2002. SHEN HAI ZHI LAN) (That night the net speed is quick. I haven’t surfed on line for almost 30 hours. Today I did, I am extremely surprised. Then I realized that in the past 30 hours the Meteor Garden has been forbidden or closed. I should hide my discs in a safe place because the National Radio and TV broadcasting bureau will confiscate them. I have good reason to feel afraid). This is only part of the first of several paragraphs. In these sentences some very trivial things were put into the frame of Lu Xun’s original passage. The reader will not feel it hard to understand; however, the association made by the phraseology and the attempt to get to know Why the Meteor Garden (a popular soap opera) has been forbidden is stimulating enough to arouse the reader’s curiosity. The whole passage is written in a tone of self-mockery and in common words to express his opinion. Accidentally this style becomes very popular. We can say that it is not only the contribution of Lu Xun, but also the young readers who naturally inherit the gene of post modernism that make the passage a hot work on the Internet.

4.2.2. The Wu Li Tou style in wording

Another style of Wu Li Tou is represented by its choice of words. Post modernism net writers like to employ popular ways of saying things among the net citizen into their works or give new meanings to old words. These words or expressions may have some fresh meanings that can only be understood by the younger generation who often surf on the Internet. They can be divided into three categories: the partial tone of figures, the partial tone of Chinese characters and the abbreviation of English and Chinese phrases (The Youth,2001,Zheng Dan Niang).

First, some figures are well fit to describe the mood of the author. Such as “555555” means one is crying. In Chinese the figure 5 is pronounced as “wu”, which is very close to the sound of sob. “7758” means “kiss me”. The figures are pronounced as “qi qi wu ba”, which is very close to the four Chinese characters equivalent to their English counterparts “kiss me”

Secondly, the partial tone of Chinese characters is also a means commonly used in net works. Such as the word 大虾, literally means “prawn”, but actually is the partial tone of 大侠, which means a hero or a very smart person. This word even has a deeper meaning that, nowadays, some net masters or, to be more exact, those who are very skillful in surfing on line, are always humpback due to their long time surfing without much physical exercise, hence the double meaning of this word

Thirdly, in order to avoid typing a long sentence to save time, net surfers take to some abbreviations of English and Chinese phrases. For example, the abbreviations of the English phrases “AFAIK”, “CU” and “BTW” are used to replace “as far as I know”, “see you” and “By the way” respectively. There are also some Chinese abbreviations. “MM” is one used to stand for 妹妹, which is the appellationof beautiful girl. Similarly, “GG” stands for 哥哥, which means handsome boy. Both “MM” and ”GG” are based on the Chinese consonants and their respective pronunciations of the two characters to create the association

All these popular words and many more frequently appear in the net novels. Their presence adds to the works a style of young people and a taste of Internet literature. As a matter of fact, almost every book, which stems from the Internet, contains these words.

4.2.3. The Wu Li Tou style in plot selecting

If a net writer wants to reach the masters level of the Wu Li Tou style, he should know how to select a suitable plot. It is no easy task; the readers are censorious. But the net writer always offers something so imaginative that the readers’ response is nothing but pleased surprise, at a loss about what words to use to describe such a satisfactory and admiring feeling, but with an approval of “WOW”.

In 2002, He Yuanwai, a net writer, offered a net novel called “Become Lovelorn When We Graduate”. Though an ordinaary love story, there is in it a fairly famous snippet called “Yue Nv Jian”(a kind of swordplay). At the first reading, one may find it nothing specially.It is just about a swordswoman who fell in love with her classmate but unfortunately that man did not love her, and later she found that her lover fell in love with another woman from the rival school. The bitter pangs of the unrequited love she suffered drove her so sad that she decide to kill her rival. Unfortunately, she died in the end by the hand of the man she loved. Then why is this story so popular? The reason is that no one has expected that the soulful swordswoman is actually a mosquito. The short story, taking the first person point of view, is misleading so that people take “I” for a human being. It turned out that the man this mosquito wanted to bite is the same man she loved; the woman she wanted to bite is her rival in love. She died because the man didn’t want his girlfriend to be bitten by a mosquito. (“Become Lovelorn When We Graduate” 2003,HE YUAN WAI). What the ending revealed is beyond everyone’s imagination, so we all admire the author for this ingenious structure and context, typical of the wonderful model of the Wu Li Tou is a style that is of universal appeal and charm.

The Wu Li Tou style, a main representation of the post modernism writing in China, and has had greater impact on net writers and their readers than many other forms. Therefore, this style is frequently referred to when the topic is on China’s post modernism net literature.

5. The make up of the writers

As is mentioned above, Internet literature is most popular among young people of common interest in surfing and electronic readings. In the same vein, most of the net writers also have much common ground in many aspects of their personal profile.

Most net writers, from relatively rich families, were born in 1980s without any experience of war but with daily access to the computer.Internet literature backed by such a group will naturally, on the whole, focus on the campus love story, or are based on imagination or even fantasy.

Everyday thousands of writers post their works on the internet, with every famous net writer having his/her fixed readers group. The biggest Chinese net literature web site is “Rong Shu xia”. If one can gain a good fame in this site, then the time for that person to publish their works will come soon. A lot of outstanding net writers such as 安妮宝 (Annebaby), 宁财神 (Ning Cai Shen), 明晓溪 (Ming Xiao Xi), 红猪侠 (Hong Zhu Xia), 蒋胜男 (Jiang Shen Nan), 环玥 (Huan Yue), 文雨 (Wen Yu), 天遥 (Tian Yao), and 盈风 (Ying Feng) are all well received in this site.

Though Internet literature has a large membership, producing quite a few good works all the time,it is not without disadvantages on its road of its development. Youth is a double-blade sword in that the young net writers are free in revealing what is going on around, but what is written about, due their lack of life experience fails to go in depth socially or culturally. And as most of the net writers are net citizens, their writing depends, to a large extent, on the words used on the Internet and the simple, easy to understand style. Such avoiding of bring burden to the net surfers in reading comprehension, if going to extremes, is very likely to hinder rather than facilitate the further development of the writing skills in the Internet literature. That is why the literary works of the net literature such as novels, as a rule, come and go very quickly. It is often the case here that today all the readers are talking about one piece but before you can say Jack Robinson, everyone tells you that you should read another, or you are outdated. This is certainly not the climate conducive to nurturing Chinese Internet literature

Conclusion

The Chinese Internet literature, born in China and featuring postmodernism, reflects not only the reality and rapid changes that have taken place in the recent years here, but also a chief tool for the Petty Bourgeoisie to mirror their ways of life and comment on the society and culture they are in. As the most beneficiary and witness of China’s reform and opening to the outside world, their destiny is also closely connected to and determined by this country’s ups and downs. In this sense, the values of the Petty Bourgeoisie could be recognized as one of the products of China’s reform and opening up policy.

Petty Bourgeoisie, as a new group and term, accepted by and made up of most of the Internet authors, is exerting a growing amount of influence on the majority of the younger Internet-dependent and computer-addicted generation, and is expected, in the long run, directly or in directly, to accelerate the liberation of people’s mind and the exchange of people’s thoughts, and to promote our understanding with the outside world through the magic of the Internet with easy access to any place, anywhere, anytime. This substantial influence comes from the economic advantages and excellent artistic values of the Petty Bourgeoisie as a community or as a group, and from their leading role in improving the quality of the population, especially the comprehensive art appreciation abilities. On the other hand, they are regarded, by some people, as bad elements undermining socialist culture and ethics, owing to their ideology of worshipping money and fawning on foreign countries and their commodities and philosophies. People of this group are, therefore, said to be selfish and indifferent. Now, the status and role of the Petty Bourgeoisie is a controversial issue that many people all over the country are voicing their views on (The Society, 2001.8.Yang Qian, Liu Xi Ming).

Whether the emergence of the Petty Bourgeoisies is a good or bad thing is not the focus of our concern. However they are here responsible for the creation of postmodern Chinese Internet literature, initially a spoken language form that has been widely adopted by the young people, on campuses in particular, for the language is amusing, novel, individualistic and easy to remember. Such a style is designed to cater to the populace’s taste for daily use, adding a flavor to the dull routine and becoming part of pop culture. Meanwhile, the language of Internet literature has lent color to our tradition and contributed to the diversification of postmodern literature. The authors of Internet literature, the future of the 21^stcentury, more open-minded and prone to accept the new ideas, are the ones to push forward postmodern literature.

References

Chen Hai Yan. The Rising of Internet Literature. Essays of The World’s Novels, 2003.

Song Wei Jie. Capitalism, Modernism and Postmodernism. Movie Review, 2004.

Zheng Dan Niang. The future of the popular internet words. The Youth, 2001.

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