The development of Oriental studies in the 20th century tends to focus on the field of classical literature?

First, the change of the times and academic evolution

The brilliant achievements of classical Chinese literature research in the 20th century are closely related to the change of the times, which is first of all one of the strongest impressions left to us when we look back on the history of this period of academic research.
The study of classical Chinese literature before the middle of the 19th century was still basically a feudalistic and dependant on scripture. The study of classical Chinese literature before the middle of the 19th century was basically a feudal-style research system dependent on scripture. After the Opium War in 1840, with the decline of Chinese feudalism, the invasion of Western imperialist powers and the development of capitalist economy, China's socio-political and social thought underwent a major change, and the modern Enlightenment thinkers represented by Gong Zizhen and Wei Yuan began to break with the authority of traditional scriptures and advocate ideological emancipation, so that the study of classical literature began to blow in a breath of fresh air. At the same time, the decline of ancient literature and the vigorous development of popular literary styles such as opera and novels also prompted a change in people's concept of literature. It was all this that made literary researchers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries begin to change their traditional literary concepts, and start from the criticism of popular literature such as opera and novels, and make a new assessment of the value of traditional literature. In 1919, the great "May Fourth" New Culture Movement took place. Under the leadership of a group of advanced intellectuals represented by Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Hu Shi, Lu Xun, etc., and in the literary revolution characterized by "opposing the old literature and advocating the new," the study of traditional classical literature began to have a new value. The study of classical literature began to undergo an epoch-making change. From then on, it was no longer an interpretation of the doctrines of feudal culture or a perceptive commentary indulging in the realm of classical aesthetics, but became an integral part of the modern revolutionary movement of opposing the old feudal culture, absorbing the power of revolution from history, and advocating a new culture for the nation. Since the 1980s, with the advent of the new period of reform and opening up, classical literature has become a cultural resource for people to rethink how to carry forward the excellent national cultural traditions and build a socialist spiritual civilization with Chinese characteristics, and it has become the historical foundation for the establishment of a new aesthetic tradition of Chinese literature and art, and its study has begun another new period. The study of it also began another new period. It is with these major historical changes that the study of classical Chinese literature in the twentieth century has gone through a tortuous but brilliant historical process of nearly one hundred years, cultivating one batch of scholars after another, and obtaining extremely rich academic results. It can be said in this way: only by starting from the change of the times can we truly understand the historical evolution of the study of classical Chinese literature in the twentieth century and grasp the pulse of its times. This is the first point to be discussed in this book.

Second, Cultural Trends and Theoretical Reflections

The study of classical Chinese literature in the 20th century has developed along with the development of history, and different historical periods have naturally resulted in the formation of different research focuses and research styles. However, in order to understand the history of classical literature research in the 20th century from a macroscopic point of view, we must also grasp a core issue that runs through this century. If it is said that before the 19th century, the study of Chinese classical literature took the renewal of tradition as its own responsibility, then, with the great social, political and ideological changes, the question of how to recognize the relationship between traditional culture and modernization became a problem that all classical literature researchers in the 20th century thought about together, no matter whether it was the critique of traditional literature in the May Fourth period, the criticism of traditional literature after the founding of New China, or the criticism of traditional literature in the 20th century. Whether it is the "May Fourth" period of criticism of traditional literature, after the founding of new China, the criticism of traditional literature inheritance, or since the new period of the promotion of literary traditions, have not left this core issue, just in a different period of time to deepen the understanding of this core issue again and again. It is this deepening of understanding that has formed a boom in the study of classical literature in this century, and has promoted people's theoretical thinking, thus making the study of classical literature in this century continue to deepen and develop.

In the theoretical reflection that focuses on this core issue of classical literature research in the 20th century, Marxism obviously occupies a very important position in it. This is so because Marxism, as a science, has inherited more human wisdom, played the most important theoretical role in guiding the revolutionary practice of the Chinese people towards modernization, and also has the most theoretical persuasive power in guiding the study of Chinese classical literature in the 20th century. Therefore, in the early days of the May Fourth Movement, when the Chinese people introduced various theories from the West to the country in search of modernization, Marxism soon won the victory over evolution and other theories with its scientific nature and applicability in guiding the practice of the Chinese revolution and became the guiding ideology of the Chinese people's modernization revolution, and the same is true in the study of classical literature. The same is true in the study of classical literature. In the past century, although we have made some mistakes and taken some detours in the study and application of Marxism, the achievements we have made in the study of classical literature should mainly be attributed to the theoretical guidance of Marxism. Therefore, recognizing the significance of Marxism in the study of classical literature in the 20th century is an important issue that we cannot ignore.

In the process of making fruitful achievements in the study of classical literature in the 20th century, the change of methodology has played a pivotal role. From the positivist research methodology based on the theory of evolution at the beginning of this century, to the analytic methodology based on sociology after the May Fourth Movement, to the systematic methodology based on cultural studies after the 1980s, these methodological changes are not only the concrete embodiment of academic trends and theoretical reflections in the study of classical literature in the 20th century, but also a reflection of scholars in various periods engaged in the study of classical literature. These changes in methodology are not only the concrete embodiment of academic trends and theoretical thinking in the 20th century classical literature research, but also the means and tools for scholars of all periods to engage in the research of their own disciplines and make different achievements. Therefore, the thinking and summarizing of the methodology of classical literature research in the 20th century will have a stronger significance in guiding the study of classical literature in the 21st century. The above is the second aspect that this book focuses on.

Third, Changing Patterns and Expanding Fields

Compared with the nineteenth century, the study of classical literature in the twentieth century not only continued to deepen in the traditional academic fields, but also greatly broadened the new fields of study with the great changes in socio-political thought and caused a change in the pattern of academia. The concept of "literature" is also relatively broad, on the surface of its field of study seems to be very wide, the scriptures, history, and the collected works are all-inclusive, but on closer examination, the scope of the study of literature really belongs to the literary research is very narrow, in addition to the exegesis of the works of the evidence, mainly some poetic discourse and epistemological commentary and criticism. The first important step in the study of classical Chinese literature in the twentieth century was to separate literature from the traditional scriptures and to define it in a new way. On the surface this seems to have narrowed the scope of traditional literary studies, but in fact it greatly broadened the scope of the study of literature itself. Instead of focusing on traditional poetry and literature, it broadened the scope of classical literary study to include opera, novels, raps, and even a variety of folklore genres, and made unprecedented achievements in this regard. In the study of each literary style, it also no longer limits its vision to the traditional exegesis of works, testimonials, and point-by-point criticism, but places it in the context of the whole society and culture, scrutinizing it from various aspects such as politics, economy, culture, philosophy, history, religion, and morality, and conducting a multifaceted study of it. At the same time, in this kind of research, various scientific theories such as culture, sociology, psychology, linguistics, cultural anthropology, etc., and various theories and methods such as dialectical materialism, historical materialism, positivism, archetypal criticism, systematic theory, and acceptance, etc., have been widely applied, no matter whether it is in the exploration of the ontological aspects of literature, the study of works of famous writers and literary genres, or the judgment of the value of the literary genre, and the analysis and grasp of the artistic form. Whether in the exploration of literary ontology, the study of famous writers' works and literary genres, or in the value judgment of literary genres and the analysis and grasp of artistic forms, all of them have achieved what their predecessors have not. Not only that, in the process of the Chinese nation's modernization, classical literature researchers in the 20th century also opened their academic horizons to the whole world, explored the national and cultural characteristics of Chinese literature from the perspective of world literature and culture, and conducted research on comparative literature and comparative culture. In short, the achievements made in the study of classical Chinese literature in the twentieth century compared with the previous century are not only the changes in the quantity and quality of the results, but also the changes in the pattern of research and the expansion of the academic field, which is an important symbol of the academic progress of an era, and is also the third major issue focused on in this book.

Fourth, the study and writing of literary history

In the study of classical literature in the twentieth century, the writing of literary history is obviously one of the issues we should focus on. This is not only because the preparation of literary history is a new thing in the study of classical literature in the 20th century, but also because the preparation of literary history can best reflect the comprehensive situation of academic research in an era. Since the end of the last century, when Dou Xiaofan wrote the first Chinese history of literature (1897) (according to Liu Houzhi, "Notes on the History of Chinese Literature", Dou Xiaofan's "History of Literature of the Dynasties" was drafted in 1897, which is earlier than Lin Chuanjia's "History of Chinese Literature" (1904), which is generally referred to as "A History of Chinese Literature" by scholars; here, from Liu's statement, see Chen Yutang, "Bibliography of Old Works on Chinese Literature".), a century of various Chinese literary histories have been written, but they are also the most comprehensive ones. In the past century, there have been hundreds of various works on the history of ancient Chinese literature, including general histories of literature and interrupted histories, histories of literature classified according to literary genres (e.g., the history of poetry and the history of novels), histories of literature written according to the categories of authors (e.g., the history of women's literature, the history of religion, and the history of monks' literature), histories of literature written according to the disciplines of art (e.g., the history of music), and histories of literature written by ethnicity (e.g., the history of music and the history of literature). There are also literary histories written by artistic disciplines (e.g., history of music literature), by ethnic groups (e.g., history of Bai literature, history of Zhuang literature), by historical and political issues (e.g., antiwar literature of the Song Dynasty), and there are also histories of literary thought, history of literary criticism, history of literary theories, history of literary trends, and many other types. The writing of literary history has changed the past situation of studying writers' works in a fragmented and isolated manner, and has enabled people to find an effective form of systematically studying the whole process of the development of classical Chinese literature and searching for the laws of literary development from it. Because of this, some excellent works of literary history have often become the representative achievements of a classical literature research expert or an era of classical literature research, such as Wang Guowei's History of Song and Yuan Opera, Lu Xun's Historical Sketch of the Chinese Novel, Hu Shih's History of Literature in Vernacular Languages, Zheng Zhenduo's History of Literature in Illustrated Form, Liu Dajie's History of Literary Development in China, and the History of Chinese Literature of Yau Kuo-yen and others, and so on. This is the case. Therefore, to understand the historical process of writing the history of literature in this century, to explore the different styles and characteristics of writing the history of literature in different periods, and to summarize the experiences and lessons in the writing of the history of literature not only has the significance of providing reference for the better writing of the history of literature in the future, but also has the significance of summing up the results of the research on classical literature in this century. This is also the reason why we focus on it as a separate part of this book.