化　境　神　似

One Day

                                      

ONE OF THE candidates for recognition as the earliest piece of modern Chinese fiction is One Day 《一日》 by Chen Hengzhe (陈衡哲). Published in US Foreign Students Quarterly 《留美学生季报》 in the summer of 1917, this short story predates Lu Xun's Diary of a Madman by one year. Chen, who was at the time studying in the US in the first class of the same Qinghua program Shen Youqian was part of, describes one day in the life of students at a women's college.

   I was unable to find a copy online, so I have uploaded a version typed from a facsimile edition of the 1928 printing. Apart from using simplified characters and regularizing the third-person pronouns, most of the other printing irregularities remain (both 么 and 吗 are used, as are 吧 and 罢). Be aware of possible input errors.

   Hu Shi, editor of the Quarterly and admirer of Chen's poetry, writes in his forward to her short story collection Raindrops, "When we were still discussing the question of New Literature, Sophie had already started writing literature in the vernacular. One Day then is the earliest piece to come out of the first period of the discussions of literary revolution." Lacking the social commentary and pure shock value of Diary of a Madman, Chen's One Day was far less influential than Lu Xun's story and is now frequently overlooked. Then, of course, there is the subject matter (American college life), the main characters (American students), and the author herself (a woman), all of which would make for a rather less spectacular start to modern Chinese literature. In an introduction to the story, Chen writes that "it has neither structure nor goal, so it can only be called a kind of description, not a story." These words have been accepted at face value, although Lu Xun's alternative is not strictly a story, either.

   The piece itself is a simple read; it has been translated in Writing Women in Modern China: An Anthology of Women's Literature from the Early Twentieth-Century, edited by Amy D. Dooling and Kristina M. Torgeson (I have not read this version), so I will not do so here. Notable, however, is a scene in which one of the school's Chinese exchange students finds herself in a situation many westerners in China will recognize:

晚上（一）     钟指六下半。学生陆续自餐室中走出。     爱米立走近一个中国学生张女士前说，"你肯同我跳舞吗？"     张："很情愿。不过我跳舞得不好。"     爱米立："你们在中国也跳舞吗？"     张："不。"     爱米立："希奇，希奇！那么你们闲空的时候做些什么呢？——你喜欢美国吗——你想家吗？"     张女士未及答，学生渐渐聚近，围住张女士，成一半圈。     贝田："你们在家吃些什么？有鸡蛋么？"     张："有。"     玛及："那么你们一定也有鸡了，希奇希奇！"     梅丽："我有一个朋友，他的姑母在中国传教，你认得她吗？"     路斯："我昨晚读一本书，讲的是中国的风俗，说中国人喜欢吃死老鼠。可是真的？"     幼尼司："中国的房子是怎样的？也有桌子吗？我听见人说中国人吃饭，睡觉，读书，写字，都在地上的确吗？"     亚娜："你有哥哥在美国吗？我的哥哥认得一个姓张的中国学生，这不消说一定是你的哥哥了。"     张女士一一回答。     爱米立："你不讨厌我们问你说话？"     张："一点也不。"

Evening (1)       The clock showed 6:30. The students filed out of the cafeteria.     Emily approached Ms. Zhang, a Chinese student, and said, "Will you dance with me?"     Zhang: "I would, but I don't dance very well."     Emily: "Do you dance in China?"     Zhang: "No."     Emily: "How interesting! Then what do you do in your free time? Do you like America? Do you miss your family?"     Ms. Zhang had no time to answer, since students were coming over to crowd round her in a semicircle.     Patience: "What does your family eat? Do you have eggs?"     Zhang: "Yes."     Margie: "Then you must have chickens. How interesting!"     Mary: "I have a friend whose mother is a missionary in China. Do you know her?"     Lucy: "Last night I read a book that talked about Chinese customs. It said Chinese people like to eat rats. Is this true?"     Eunice: "What are houses in China like? Do you have tables, too? I've heard that Chinese people eat, sleep, read, and write all on the ground - is that right?"     Hannah: "Do you have a brother in the US? My brother knows a Chinese student named Zhang, I guess he ought to be your brother."     Ms. Zhang answered each and every question.     Emily: "You don't hate us for asking you these questions, do you?"     Zhang: "Not at all."

(Note: Chen is writing English dialogue in Chinese, and all of the names but Zhang's are translated phonetically from English. Retranslating back into English is non-trivial, especially given the fall in popularity of many of the names of that era (Eunice?). So if anyone can suggest name that corresponds to 贝田 better than "Patience", please let me know.)

   The scene continues in a familiar way, with a request for Chinese instruction. Ms. Zhang responds by teaching Emily a few sentences of Shanghainese (which Emily butchers horribly); I cannot decide if this is out of spite, or if it really is her native tongue:

爱米立："请你教我几句中国说话，好吗？"
张："很好。比如你见了人，你就说，'侬好拉否？'"
爱米立："这个很容易，'侬豪拉否'。还有呢？"
张："他就说，'蛮好，谢谢侬'。"
爱米立："'妹豪，茶茶侬'，对吗？"
张笑："差不多了。"
爱米立跳起，高声说："我会说中国话了，你们听哪，'侬豪拉妹豪茶茶侬'。"

   Chen Hengzhe went on to write several more short stories, new-form poetry (including a response to Diary of a Madman called They Say I've Gone Crazy), and dozens of essays. She also wrote a history of the West from a feminist perspective （《西洋史》） as well as several volumes of literary histories. In addition to One Day, several of her essays and a delightful fable called The West Wind have been translated into English.

【作者: neohet】【访问统计:】【2005年02月7日 星期一 14:08】【 加入博采】【打印】