Volume 7, No. 2

This Note is an introduction to the Special Column Cao Shunqing and Chinese Scholarly Discourse. It provides a brief description of Prof Cao’s academic background and his most important contributions to the development of Comparative Literature. The Note also describes the cultural context against which Cao offers his main arguments “Aphasia” and “Variation Theory,” and the long-term impact they make on the scholarly world.

Since the 1980s, Chinese scholars have realized that the Chinese academic circle suffers from aphasia and that its equal dialogue with the West will be impossible unless we explore Chinese national discourse, establish the Chinese school of comparative literature and form the Chinese theoretical characteristics and available methods. In cross-cultural research, importance should be attached to the pursuit of “similarity,” but more importantly, to the excavation of “difference.” Therefore, the proposal and practical operation of Variation Theory are of great significance. Despite the theoretical construction and critical practice of the Chinese School, it is necessary to rewrite the history of civilization in the new era if we aspire to establish our own complete discourse system. The theoretical construction of the Chinese School of Comparative Literature and the proposal of rewriting the history of civilization are all aimed at better serving the construction of the community with a shared future for mankind and the better development and
progress of mankind.

Variation theory is one of the original viewpoints put forward by China’s comparatist Cao Shunqing. This shows that comparative literature studies, especially the study of Chinese-Western comparative literature, is no longer just a pursuit of convergence, but also an exploration of the differences between different national literatures. In this respect, Chinese literature and Western literature belong to two completely different cultural traditions, and the gap between languages is more than similarities, so the comparative study should seek its heterogeneity. Of course, we cannot deny that there is still a certain degree of convergence between different national literatures, but in this sense, especially for Chinese and Western literature, the convergence is only relative, heterogeneity is absolute. The emergence of the
theory of variation would point to a possible new direction for international comparative literature studies, which is currently considered in crisis. This is also Cao Shunqing’s contribution, as a Chinese comparatist, to the cross-cultural comparative literature studies.

Cao Shunqing published his Comparative Poetics: China and the West, which was based on his Ph. D. dissertation, in 1988 and began striding on his academic road in the discipline of comparative literature. After promotion to full-professorship at his Alma Mater Sichuan University, he has continuously produced monographs and articles of the subject. Two articles appeared in mid-1990s: one lamented the Chinese “loss of voice” on the international comparative literature stage, and one proposed the establishment of the “Chinese School” of comparative literature. In the latter essay, Cao argues that comparative literature studies should focus on cultural phenomena of “difference” and “variation,” besides finding out “commonness” of cultures between China and the West. In 2014, Cao published his book in English entitled The Variation Theory of Comparative Literature; this same year witnessed the appearance of his book in Chinese, with the same theme. These are milestones on Cao’s academic road. Another one, A History of Literary Theory: China and Foreign Countries, set up in 2012, signifies a 4-volume gigantic work prepared in 22 years, written by dozens of scholars and chief-edited by Cao Shunqing. His works have received resonances and supports; and have initiated follow-up researches. Because of his outstanding academic achievements, a great number of honorary professorships and titles have bestowed on him. He has attract-ed numerous budding talents to study under his guidance and has so far “produced” over two hundred Ph. D. graduates. Cao’s teaching and research career could be likened to an academic enterprise, a rare and magnificent phenomenon. In 2022, Cao further benefitted his readers with two essays, one concerning history of world civilizations, and the other about the idea of “mutual appreciation of civilizations.” They are additional explications of his “Chinese School” and “variation theory” concepts as well as resonances to the call of times. Cao Shunqing, his students and his colleagues in other parts of China, over the decades, have worked hard and put out remarkable academic results in the arena of comparative literature; and have thus let their voices aired on the international stage——though only voices of the young “phoenix.” On his part, Cao has contributed brilliantly to what the author of this paper coined as “The Chinese Pattern of Comparative Literature.”

Chinese scholars have been fundamentally different from Comparative Literature researchers in the homogeneous civilizations of Europe and US since the moment they entered the field, facing not only language differences but also collisions and reflections from various civilizational positions. Chinese Comparative Literature has long been in a weak position, almost submerged in the strong Western discourse, suffering from “Aphasia.” The new discourse of the Variation Theory constructed in this context by the Chinese School of Comparative Literature, as a “Chinese discourse” rooted in the deep structure of Chinese philosophy, has received great attention from the international academic community and triggered in-depth discussions among international scholars including French, which marks that Chinese Comparative Literature researchers have completely broken away from the “Aphasia” and made a “Chinese Voice” of their time.

Chinese literary theory not only has its discourse expression characteristics but also has world poetic significance; It covers the cross-time transformation and interpretation of the ancient and modern forms of literary theory, as well as the cross spatial dialogue and mutual learning with Western literary theory. The construction of its discourse cannot be separated from the four dimensions of “ancient,” “present,” “Chinese,” and “Western.” Chinese scholars, represented by Cao Shunqing, actively promote the construction of Chinese literary discourse, gradually presenting a general academic path. Based on the local literary theory, Chinese scholars head “towards” world poetics to observe the Chinese literary theory in a macro poetic system, and ultimately “return” to Chinese cultural classics, opening up a cross-temporal dialogue path of “towards-return” for the study of contemporary Chinese literary theory.

The translation and research of Chinese foreign literature have a rich and distinguished history that spans over a century, yielding numerous and substantial achievements. These research outcomes for thoroughly synthesized and scientific analyses can provide authoritative and accurate guidance for foreign literature translation and research, highlighting the significance of the China Foreign Literature Studies Index (CFLSI) database. This article focuses on three issues encountered in database development.1) An examination of the limitations of existing public network resources based on the unique nature of the foreign literature discipline, thereby establishing the necessity for the creation of a discipline-specific database; 2) An exploration of the composition, functional design, and implementation approaches of the CFLSI database in response to the requirements of foreign literature researchers; 3) The establishment of the database framework and development technology of the system aligned with the data composition and functional design. The creation of the CFLSI database represents an exploration and application to merge digital technology with a comprehensive understanding of the foreign literature discipline.

As masters of local narration, both Thomas Hardy, a modern British writer, and Jia Pingwa, a contemporary Chinese writer, focus on the ethical conflicts in the countryside during the period of social changes, and made deep reflections on the issue of ethical choice in their respective masterpieces Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Shanxi Opera. Although the two writers are in different time periods, they have many similarities in the presentation of themes, the means of promoting stories, especially the cognition of local issues. The aesthetic effect of their texts at the receiving end is also relatively consistent. These phenomena not only reflect the similarities between writers and writers under different linguistic and cultural backgrounds in different epochs, but also prove the existence of the literary basis needed for mutual learning among civilizations.

Various kinds of odor writing abound in Eva Weaver’s novel The Puppet Boy of Warsaw, giving a more authentic account of the Holocaust history. Through the perception of the odor, characters in the novel form the memory symbols and compose brain text, contributing to the construction of individual memories of war. Serving as a medium, odors integrate and construct individual memories into collective memories of the Jews and the Germans, revealing the indelible war-inflicted trauma of both victims and perpetrators. At the same time, odors are rich in ethical metaphors, indicating the ethical dilemma both parties face in the war. Odors also play an important role in the ethical education for the post-war generations by promoting the ethical reflection on the justice of war, which gives prominence to the anti-war value of the novel. In the age of peace, studies on the memory and ethics of war are of great help in encouraging modern people to probe into the mechanism of war and contemplate the future development path of mankind.