The Christianness and Penetration of Christianity into Modern Chinese Literature: An Alternative Perspective of Rereading Thunderstorm

The Christianness and Penetration of Christianity into Modern Chinese Literature: An Alternative Perspective of Rereading Thunderstorm

NG Mei Kwan

Cao Yu was a prominent Chinese dramatist during the May Fourth era in the early twentieth century. His virgin play Thunderstorm, which was written when he was just a 23-year-old undergraduate, marked the coming of age of modern Chinese drama. In spite of the fact that it was continually put on stage, and was well received over a long period of time and in many places, Cao Yu kept rewriting the script. This may lead, to a certain extent, to a bias in the interpretation of its Christian elements.

This paper is a re-reading of the first version of Thunderstorm published in Literature Quarterly in 1934 from a perspective through which we can better understand the localization of Christianity and Christian culture in modern Chinese literature.

This paper consists of three parts. Part one traces the marks of Christian penetration in the context of the play script Thunderstorm. Part two explores the relation between Cao Yu's Christian experiences and the discourses in his play script. Part three presents a possible interpretation of its Christian metaphor from the perspective of a tragedy. Finally, the paper suggests a possible reading strategy to May Fourth literature through the examination of its Christianness.