China and the West

[Martin Heidegger und die Japaner].
Ohashi, Ryôsuke. Die frühe Heidegger-Rezeption in Japan. In : Japan und Heidegger. Ed. by Hartmut Buchner. (Signmaringen : Thorbecke, 1989).
Ohashi schreibt : Zwischen 1922-1935 waren einige bekannte japanische Philosophen z.B. Hajime Tanabe und Shuzo Kuki in Deutschland zum Studium, unter anderem auch bei Heidegger. In der Folgezeit kamen immer mehr Philosophen hinzu und der Einfluss von Sein und Zeit verstärkte sich in Japan. Das Denken Heideggers hat auf die Philosophie der Kyoto-Schule unleugbaren Einfluss. Die Heidegger-Rezeption in Japan ist ein grosses Thema, das für den modernen Philosophen im chinesischen Sprachkreis viel Bedeutung besitzt und ebenso oft diskutiert wurde. Denn der Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen der chinesischen und japanischen Kultur sind viele.

Otto Pöggeler : Heidegger konnte Anstösse aus den ostasiatischen Traditionen in sein eigenes Bemühen, Besinnung zu wecken, einbringen. Er hat über Jahrzehnte hinweg beobachtet, wie seine japanischen Schüler von seinem Denken aus die Überlieferungen, aus denen sie kamen, neu zu fassen suchten. Freilich hat er sich bis in sein hohes Alter hinein gefragt, ob diese Schüler das Gleiche meinen wie er, wenn von beiden Seiten, aber aus ganz anderen Traditionen und Sprachen heraus, z.B. vom 'Nichts' gesprochen wird. Heidegger hielt das Gespräch zwischen Europa und dem Fernen Osten für ebenso nötig wie schwierig ; er wollte die Fremdheit nicht übersehen, die in jeder Begegnung blieb. Die lebenslangen Gespräche mit den Schülern sind durch eine Welt getrennt von den kurzen Interviews der Besucher ; trotzdem kann die Aufzeichnung von einem solchen Besuch erste Hinweise darauf geben, warum er überhaupt solche Begegnungen suchte, wie er die Unterschiede der Traditionen, aber auch die Gemeinsamkeit im Fragen sah.
Heidegger hat überdies festgehalten, dass er von früh an mit Japanern zusammengearbeitet habe, 'von Chinesen habe er indessen mehr gelernt'.

Mei Yi-pao graduiert am Qinghua College in Beijing.

Mei Yi-pao studiert am Oberlin College, Ohio.

Delteil, Joseph. Sur le fleuve Amour [ID D21819].
Delteil schreibt : "A Changhaï, tous les bordels s'appellent des Palais, un Européen en voyage qui ometterait de visiter un des grands bordels de Shanghaï commettrait envers la Chine une offense aussi grave que celle d'un Yankee qui oublierait de remonter les Champs-Elysées à Paris. Ce manque de tact, point ne l'aurai-je. Et j'emmènerai, incontinent, mes personnages au Palais d'Onyx."

Alwyne George Neville Ogden besucht die Grenze zu Tibet.

Alwyne George Neville Ogden ist Vizekonsul, dann stellvertretender Generalkonsul des britischen Konsulats in Chengdu (Sichuan).

George C. Hanson ist Konsul des amerikanischen Konsulats in Harbin.

Karl August Balser ist Vizekonsul in Beijing.

Tod von Samuel Couling.

Georges Cordier ist Korrespondent der Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient.

Paul Claudel und Zhuangzi.
Gilbert Gadoffre : Claudel revient à Laozi avec plus d’attention, mais il va aussi entreprendre à Tokyo la lecture de Zhuangzi, dont la hardiesse métaphysique, les spéculations paradoxales et l'humour dévastateur étaient bien faits pour le séduire. A Tianjin il avait pu lire les quelques passages de Zhuangzi qui se trouvaient dans les Textes philosophiques de Léon Wieger, mais en 1923 il a entre les mains les Pères du système taoïste qui comprend une traduction intégrale du livre de Zhuangzi, ce livre 'admirable' et il ne ménage pas son admiration à l' 'Homme de génie' qui en est l'auteur.
Bernard Hue : Paul Claudel ne s'est pas contenté de transposer des apologues de Zhuangzi. Ayant lu ce philosophe dès son arrivée au Japon, il lui emprunte deux thèmes qu'il développe à son tour dans les oeuvres : celui de l'Ombre et celui du Papillon.

Li Sichun studiert an der Universität Berlin und reist dann nach China zurück.

Giovanni Vacca ist Professore di storia e geografia dell'Asia orientale der Università di Firenze.

Li Liewen ist Herausgeber des Verlages Shang wu yin shu guan in Shanghai.

Mao, Dun. Zi ran zhu yi yu Zhongguo xian dai xiao shuo [ID D23498].
Er schreibt : "Le milieu du roman chinois doit soulever un mouvement naturaliste... Le naturalisme est influencé par la science moderne. Le thème, les idées et la manière de décrire des « Rougon-Macquart » von Emile Zola sont tous attachés à la science, qui consiste à décrire l'hérédité d'une famille... Nous devons, à l'exemple des naturalistes, appliquer les découvertes scientifiques dans la création romanesque en étudian les problèmes de la sociologie et de l’évolutionnisme."

[Shakespeare, William]. Hamuleite. Tian Han yi. [ID D13674]. Es ist die erste vollständige chinesische Übersetzung aus dem englischen Original von Shakespeare.
Er schreibt : "Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's most stirring and moving tragedies. Today we have a lot of young people of the Hamlet type. What will they think about their society after reading this great tragedy ?"
Li Ruru : Tian was motivated to translate Hamlet by the greatness of the play's reputation and by his strong personal empathy with the protagonist which enabled Tian to use the work of translation to vent his own emotions, although he admitted a few years later that he had made mistakes in his translation because he had been 'too young and too ambitious' to deal with such a profound piece of English literature. Spoken drama was thus dominated for a significant period by Western models of realistic and naturalistic theater. Tian Han used his translation of Hamlet as a reaction against this trend. Yet this translation was important both as marking the first publication of an entire Shakespeare in Chinese and as a personal landmark for Tian in entering Shakespeare's world, or rather the world of theater. Shakespeare made him a playwright and a poet, and Shakespeare's influence is evident in aspects of the characters, plots and language of Tian's own plays.

Zhang Ruoming ist Mitbegründerin der Chinese Youth Communist Party in Paris.

Yu, Shangyuan. Guo qu er shi er xi ju ming jia ji qi dai biao zuo [ID D26242].
Yu schreibt : "In the seventeen popular Ibsen plays, there are three categories : first, historico-mythical plays ; second, verse plays ; third social plays. There are six plays in the first category, three in the second and eight in the third. The most famous of course are the eight social plays, but the one most typical of Ibsen's spirit and his technique is A doll's house. Firstly, it is a tragedy of marriage and also a spiritual pillar of the modern women's movement. We have said before that the central idea of Ibsen's tragedies lies in heredity - for example Ghosts - and Ghosts is a sequel to A doll's house. Helmer is representative of 'the pillars of society', whereas Nora is of the spirit as exhibited by Selina, Mrs. Alving, and Rebecca. Secondly, the play has establised a model for the form of modern drama."

Tam Kwok-kan : Yu Shangyuan puts Ibsen's plays into three categories : the historico-mythical, verse, and social. He thinks that Nora is the most representative of the eight social plays, because the play shows every aspect of the techniques of modern playwriting. The play is treasured first of all for its feminist theme : "It is a tragedy of marriage and also a spiritual pillar of the modern women's movement. The central idea of Ibsen's tragedies lies in heredity – for example, Ghosts – and Ghosts is a sequel to Nora. Helmer is typical of the falsehood described in The pillars of society, whereas Nora is of the rebellious spirit portrayed in Selina, Mrs. Alving and Rebecca". Yu also introduces the play as a structural model for modern Chinese drama.

Zhou, Zuoren. Zi ji de yuan di [ID D27657].
Bonnie S. McDougall : By 1922 the new literary movement was undergoing its first internal debate, 'art for art's sake' versus 'art for life's sake'. Zhou Zuoren was among those who objected to the false distinction being made, although ultimately he had to declare himself on the side of life : “'Art for art's sake' will separate art from life and make life an appendage of art, or even make an art out of life as Oscar Wilde proposed – of course, this would not be very proper ; 'art for life's sake' will make art an appendage of life or make art into a tool for changing life and not an end in itself – surely this is separating life from art”.
Despite this disapproving tone, Zhou strongly defended Wilde's dialogue The decay of lying, and even remonstrated with one of Wilde's translators for rendering 'lying' by the more innocuous Chinese word for 'fabrication' (jia kong). Zhou Zuoren regarded beauty of Language and a ready wit as the special qualities of Wilde's plays and essays, but his favourite pieces were The happy prince and The fisherman and his soul, the tales with a strong element of fantasy. Zhou noted the thread of social compassion which ran through the fairy-tales, but he also described them as 'unchildlike', 'a poet's poem', and their author as a 'decadent aesthete'. Zhous literary sensibilities enabled him to appreciate Wilde's literary work and attitudes, but his moral seriousness was offended by the dissipation in Wilde's personal life which he read about in Western criticism.

[Wilde, Oscar]. Yu zhong ji. Zhang Wentian, Wang Fuquan yi. [ID D12194].
Zhou Xiaoyi : Lu Xun, after reading the Chinese translation of Gide's biography of Wilde, noted that "his way of life is most interesting". He also noted Wilde's style of dress. In a paragraph discussing Wilde's appearance, he states : "look at his pictures, in which Wilde wears a flower in his button hole, taking a cane inlaid with ivory ; how handsome he is, everybody would love him, not to speak of women". Lu Xun used the phrase 'aesthetic costume' to describe Wilde's dress. Lu Xun is critical of Wilde's way of life, because, as a writer with a social mission and ideals, he is hostile to aestheticism and art for art's sake as universal principles for literature. He emphasizes the essentially social function of art. Yet no matter how critical he was, he had a clear image of Wilde as an aesthetic figure.