The Image of China in Russian Literature from the Early 20th Century to the 1950s

Abstract

In recent years, scholars from various countries have begun to focus on the theme of “the East” in their literary studies, and more attention has been paid to the image of China in Russian literature. However, most of the studies on Russian literature in the first half of the 20th century focus only on the Silver Age, and pay less attention to the image of China in Russian literature of other eras. This article focuses on the early 20th century to the 1950s, when Russia interacted with China most frequently, systematically combing it with the specific historical background and international situation of the times, and presents a complete image of China in the Russian literature. The study found that although Russian writers of each era had different experiences about China, and their own writing intentions were different, even the images of China written by Russian writers of the same era presented different characteristics, Russian literature from the early 20th century to the 1950s consistently reflected the social realities of both China and Russia. In fact, the process that Russian writers from the early 1900s to the 1950s constructed a more realistic and complete image of China was also a process that literary creation broke through national stereotypes. The evolution of the image of China in Russian literature from the beginning of the 20th century to the 1950s reflects the process of mutual interaction between the cultures of China and Russia, and also symbolizes the macro-trend of the world's national cultures to continuously eliminate the barriers between them and mingle with each other.