China and the West

Samuel Becket and China : general.
Lin Lidan ; Zhang Helong : Beckett in the 1960s showed the monolitic tendencies of misunderstanding and refjection, his reception in the mid-1970s and 1980s took off in more diverse directions, with some scholars showing the initial signs of serious interestin Beckett. In the period 1977-1990, over fifty translations of and criticisms on Theatre of the Absurd, and over twenty criticisms on Beckett's drama were published. These translations and criticisms constituted the major trend in Beckett studies during the period. A the same time, the Theatre of the Absurd and Beckett's plays became the focus in Chinese scholars' introduction to Western modernist literature and arts.
Chinese academics seemed willing to affirm the aesthetic value of Beckett's experimental dramatic techniques, which they saw were mostly anti-theatre in the sense that these techniques effectively dismantled realistic dramatic techniques by eroding the teleological and logical development of plots. They continued to betray a lack of understanding regarding the themes of Beckett's plays and the relationship between the themes and the experimental techniques. The general critical trend of the period tends to lament the hopeless tone underlying Beckett's plays and to align the deplorable human conditions in his plays to those in the Western world. For many Chinese academics, Beckett's experimental techniques must be scrutinized for how they were used to dramatise the bleak human conditions in the bourgeoisie Western world.
The studies of Beckett's drama in the 1990s continued mainly in two directions : while some critics continued to interpret Beckett's plays along the lines of absurdity, hope, and quest thematically, as well as of anti-theatre, anti-tradition, and anti-art technically, a trend prevalent in the 1970s and 1980s, a few critics endeavoured to move beyond these established critical parameters by broadening critical perspectives and by experimenting with new approaches. Shifting the focus to language, structure, narrative, and dialogue in Beckett's plays, these critics seemed able to penetrate deeper into Beckett's artistic design and, in so doing, to reveal their aesthetic value.
During the early 1980s, only a small number of criticisms were published on Beckett's short fiction, and critics tended to read it as anti-fiction.
The 1990s saw a significant leap forward in terms of the achievements in the studies of Beckett's fiction, a leap characterized by Chinese academics' efforts to shrug off the previous influence of established concepts of literature and of the leftist ideology to gain independent voices.
2000- : Beckett, as the representative writer of the Theatre of the Absurd school and as Nobel laureate, became a popular object of study for both college teachers and graduate students, with a number of over two hundred essays published, of which over one hundred essays have been devoted to Waiting for Godot. Beckett's plays attracted more critical attention than his fiction, with Waiting for Godot enjoying more popularity than his other plays.
Chinese academics responded to Beckett's centenary celebration in 2006 with much enthusiasm and vigour.