As An“Unfinished Scheme”-- Detective Fiction and the Sinicization of Modernity,1896-1949

This paper,analyses how the Chinese writers borrowed the literary genre of detective fiction from the West,but also points out the"indigenous"features of the Chinese detective fiction during the late Qing and early republic periods.Further,it examines why a few Chinese writers chose to reshape detective fiction-an imported literary genre-with these indigenous features.While earlier studies argue that the"old htterateurs"in modem China represented the conservative forces,I believe that these writers were in fact well aware of the impact of Western ideologies and intellectual trends on the Chinese society.Their preference of the indigenous,therefore,was not a bhnd choice but a conscious act of resistance.Unlike the"New Literature"writers'positive responses to Westem ideas,this group of writers treated Western ideas not as the way-to save the motherland.Rather,they viewed the"hegemony"of the empires with alarm,and resorted to a set of traditional Chinese cultural values for ways of precluding such hegemony.Their efforts of reshaping detective fiction by this means,I argue,sheds a new light on the cultural transformation of the Chinese society-and,more broadly,of the Asian societies-during this time.That is,such transformation figured not simply as the great triumph of the West over the Asian societies,but rather suggested a dynamic process of cultural collisions and re-creation.

This paper,analyses how the Chinese writers borrowed the literary genre of detective fiction from the West,but also points out the＂indigenous＂features of the Chinese detective fiction during the late Qing and early republic periods. Further,it examines why a few Chinese writers chose to reshape detective fiction - an imported literary genre - with these indigenous features. While earlier studies argue that the＂old litterateurs＂in modern China represented the conservative forces,I believe that these writers were in fact well aware of the impact of Western ideologies and intellectual trends on the Chinese society. Their pref-erence of the indigenous,therefore,was not a blind choice but a conscious act of resistance. Unlike the＂New Literature＂writers＇positive responses to Western ideas,this group of writ-ers treated Western ideas not as the way to save the motherland. Rather,they viewed the＂he-gemony＂of the empires with alarm,and resorted to a set of traditional Chinese cultural values for ways of precluding such hegemony. Their efforts of reshaping detective fiction by this means,I argue,sheds a new light on the cultural transformation of the Chinese society - and, more broadly,of the Asian societies - during this time. That is,such transformation figured not simply as the great triumph of the West over the Asian societies,but rather suggested a dy-namic process of cultural collisions and re-creation.