Fortress besieged

Fortress Besieged Fortress Besieged is a Chinese novel by Qian Zhongshu. Published in 1947, Fortress Besieged is considered one of the most influential works of twentieth century Chinese literature. As a founding work of modern Chinese sarcastic novels, it has been honored as “The New Scholars”(新儒林外史). With the special writing style, Fortress Besieged implies the social background in the late 1930s and reflects the life of middle-class Chinese intellectuals at that time. It was made into a television series in 1990 and soon became more popular among the readers.

Summary

Part 1 (Chapters 1-4):The first part is based on the description of Fang Hongjian’s life in Shanghai and his hometown (some small place in Jiangnan area), especially focused on writing about Shanghai. In this part, the Fang Hongjian, the protagonist of the novel, had love affairs with Su Wenzhi, a lady from official family. Though Su was arrogant, spoiled and sentimental, she loved Fang deeply and entirely. However, Fang was not a decisive and practical young man, he flirted with several attractive women, which finally embarrassed Su. Centered on the two main characters in part 1, Qian Zhongshu also wrote different kinds of people living in the society: people who dealing with foreign transactions in Citicorp; Zhang jimin, who loves everyone calls him Jimmy; Dong Xiechuan, who are fashion outside but conventional inside; Chu Shenming, who studies sexual differences in philosophy; Cao Yuanlang, who is keen on neoclassicism; Zhao Xinmei, who mistakenly thought Fang his love enemy. These people’s characteristics and their desires in sexual love are all presented by the author.

Part 2 (Chapter5):This part functions as a connection of the novel. Fang Hongjian and Zhao Xinmei had rushed out of the cage of love and their relationship was changed from assumed enemies to true friends, going to work in Sanlv University in Pingcheng, Hunan Province. In this part, the author also provides new characters for next part: Li Meiting, Gu Erqian and Sun Roujia. These three went to the south with Fang and Zhao, and they formed a contemporary “Little Society”. The conflicts and jokes happened in “Little Society” constitute the great part of realistic writing of the novel.

Part 3 (Chapters 6&7):This part mainly describes contradictions in Sanlv University, between the president and faculty directors, professors and students, and so on. Sanlv University soon became like a stage of fierce competition of jobs and love. The air was thick with conspiracy and rumors. Most people shown up in this part wore good-looking masks but actually had filthy mind. A few people, however, did not lose their conscience, like Fang and Zhao. If they had lived in a better society, they could have grown into outstanding talents in their fields.

Part 4 (Chapters 8&9):Fang Hongjian and Sun Roujia got married on the way to Shanghai. Sadly, this was not an exciting combination because they always had quarrels about worries of their jobs and quality of life, especially after they settled down in Shanghai, their family members all intervened in the couple's quarrels, which made the situation more complicated. Finally, Fang's family broke up and he planned to ask Zhao Xinmei for some help.

Introduction of the protagonist

Fang Hongjian
  Gender: Male
   Birth Place: Wuxi, Jiangsu Province
   Education: As a child, he received Chinese traditional education from his father. Later on, he studied in a certain university at home. Afterwards, he went to London, Paris and Berlin for further study but finally failed to graduate, so he bought a faked Ph.D. and returned to China.
   Working Experiences:
 As a clerk in his titled father-in-law’s bank.
 As an associated professor in Sanlv University.
 As a clerk in a small news agency.
   Love Experiences:
 Engaged with Miss Zhou.
 Had an affair with Miss Bao in the returning ship.
 Pursued by Miss Su, but refused her.
 Fell in love with Tang Xiaofu, Miss Su’s cousin, and finally was dumped by her.
 Fell into Sun Roujia’s love trap, married and divorced.

Meaning

Qian Zhongshu wrote the following words in author’s preface, “In this book I intended to write about a certain segment of society and a certain kind of people in modern China. In writing about these people, I did not forget they are human beings, still human beings with the basic nature of hairless, two-legged animals. The characters are of course fictitious, so those with a fondness for history need not trouble themselves trying to trace them out.” [1]

Themes

Criticism on society:By writing about the life experiences of Fang Hongjian, the author criticizes the corruption of government, the undeveloped inland rural areas and the confusion in academic world.

Criticism on culture:By modelling the images of overseas students and intellectuals, the author points out that traditional Chinese culture plays an important role in the 1930s, though many intellectuals appear to admire foreign cultures and modern civilization. The inevitably cowardice, silliness and selfishness in them are all rooted in the backward part of traditional culture and the intellectuals seldom want to change themselves or change the culture.

Style

Language:The whole novel is not noted for its plot, but for its humorous and wisdom words and sentences. The language used by Qian Zhongshu is apparently related to his scholar way of writing and it refers to the style of essay to some extent. Qian is good at combining humor with irony. The most famous sentence in this novel is that “Marriage is just like a fortress under besiege. People who outside the city want to break in and people who inside the city want to escape.” It indicates the paradox faced by young men and young women.

Rhetoric:There are hundreds of comparisons in the novel but readers will never feel cumbersome when reading. These comparisons help to model the characters, for example, the author compare Tang Xiaofu’s dimples to fruits and Wand Chuhou’s mustache to two commas. Besides, comparisons also underlined the themes in the novel because it can leave readers a deep impression with its humorous and vivid artistic effect.

Description:Fortress Besieged is successful for its psychological description. In other words, Qian Zhongshu uses psychological description to push the development of the plot. As a result, psychological description undermines the direct narration. Instead, it focus on every little change of characters.

Publication

 publishing history: “The novel was published in Shanghai in 1947. The second edition was published 1948. The third edition in 1949. After the Communist Revolution, the book was not re-printed in mainland China again until 1980. In the meantime, it was also banned in Taiwan because of its satire of the Nationalist government.” [2]

References

'''[1]''' Zhongshu, Qian. Translated by Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K. Mao. ''Fortress Besieged''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980 '''[2]''' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortress_Besieged