Vol. 56 No. 3 9/2026
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Title |
Revolution, Republicanism, and Scandal Fiction:The New Travels of Lao Can and the Making of Authorial Subjectivity in Early Republican China |
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Author |
Hsu Hui-lin |
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Genre |
Artical |
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Pages |
647~685 |
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Download |
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Language |
Chinese |
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Key words |
revolution, Yang Chenyin 楊塵因, The New Travels of Lao Can 老殘新遊記, republicanism, scandal fiction |
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Abstract |
Since the early twentieth-century New Literature movement, scandal fiction (heimu xiaoshuo 黑幕小說) has been pushed to the margins of both public reception and academic study. Recent studies, however, have begun to reassess the genre, showing that—beyond its commercial orientation—it carries serious political and social critique. This article asks how writers of scandal fiction established authorial standing and legitimacy under the dominant discourse of May Fourth New Literature. To address this question, the article examines Yang Chenyin’s 楊塵因 (1889– 1961) The New Travels of Lao Can 老殘新遊記, written by a scandal-fiction author deeply engaged in revolutionary politics in the early Republic. It argues that scandal writing was Yang’s chosen practice of social enlightenment. The novel works on four fronts: it offers a pointed critique of contemporary society; it reflects on the failures of China’s political revolution; it justifies Yang’s identity, stance, and legitimacy as a scandal novelist; and it enacts a republican ethos. Read in this light, scandal fiction is not mere sensation but a principled mode of republican criticism, and it deserves a recognized place in the story of modern Chinese literature. |