Historical Dictionary of Modern Chinese Literature 6 presents a broad perspective on the development and history of literature in modern China. This book offers a chronology, introduction, bibliography, and over 300 cross-referenced dictionary entries on authors, literary and historical developments, trends, genres, and concepts that played a central role in the evolution of modern Chinese literature. | 22 CHEN RUOXI . CH EN JO-HSI CHEN RUOXI . CH EN JO-HSI 1938- . Born and raised in rural Taiwan Chen Ruoxi spent her childhood years under the influence of a patriotic father who refused to learn Japanese when the island was under Japanese occupation and who instilled in his young daughter a strong sense of pride in the Chinese culture. At the National Taiwan University where she was a student in the Foreign Languages Department Chen began to write fiction and was a cofounder of the journal Xiandai wenxue Modern Literature . Her exposure to Western modernism led her to adopt some of its artistic visions and narrative techniques in her own writing. In general however her works are much more indebted to realism grounded in true-to-life characters a simple language and indigenous cultural traits. Her literary style can be traced to her rural upbringing. She has a deep feeling for the countryside and for the traditions that sustain its continued survival. One of the stories she wrote in her college days Zuihou yexi The Last Evening Show laments the decline of the local culture through the accounts of the fall of a Taiwanese opera star s popularity. In 1961 Chen went to study in the United States where the views of the People s Republic of China were not nearly as negative as in her native Taiwan. Echoing the dissident sentiments felt by Taiwanese intellectuals against the high-handed policies of the Nationalist government Chen became an ardent supporter of Maoist China. At Johns Hopkins University she met her future husband Duan Shiyao a . student in fluid mechanics. The young idealistic couple decided to expatriate to China. They arrived in Beijing in October 1966 at the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution. Instead of being welcomed by the Communists they were suspected of being imperialist spies sent by America to sabotage socialist China. While Duan was sent to a farm to be reeducated Chen remained in their home at the Hydraulic Engineering College in .
