Revolution of the Heart - He Love of May Fourth Literature

The Love of May Fourth Literature

--Response of Haiyan Lee's "Revolution of the heart: a genealogy of love in China, 1900-1950

In the book Revolution of the heart: a genealogy of love in China, 1900-1950, the author Haiyan Lee analyzes the idea of "love" in modern Chinese literature, thought, and popular culture from the late Qing period to the beginning of the socialist era. To my interest, I went to read more information about the love in modern China.

In China, the modern romantic love is a product of May Fourth Movement. It not only changed the Chinese people's idea to the social political development, but also changed the idea of love at the same time. The traditional ideology of love is based on practicalism. Instead of the union of heart, I'd rather to say this idea is more focus on the moral duty and life response. However, the modern love is not just this. The purpose changes to be correspond. Sometimes, this love is even not target of marriage.

In feudal time, the Chinese society didn't allow the soil for romantic love to grow. Of course, the ancient scholars weren't miser to describe "love". But this love is "Qing" instead of "ai". But what is "qing"? The late Qing writer Wu Yanren has a representative idea. In the first chapter of "Henghai", he had a discussion about "qing":

Loyalty and filial piety are both coming from "qing". For the "ai", it underestimates this "qing". At the same time, many novels is not about the "qing". Instead, they are about zauberer – "mo". Still, the author claims that they are writing about "qing". What a sin it is!

For here, it's obvious that, for the traditional scholars, the love is "qing", loyalty and filial piety.