The Wevestern utopian tradition has a long history from Genesis to the latest science fiction and has proved to be valuable in all attacks c''n the existing polilical and social order. The long tradition of Chinese utopian trsdition has been a neglected subject. This thesis attempts to make clear the linear development of the Chinese Utopian tradition from the earliest past to the late Ch''ing dynasty, to indicate its philosophical background, its moral setting, and relate these to social realities, and to open up some lines of aesthetic reflection. The utopian works are subsumed under thematic groupings. A comparative view is applied in order to arrive at a universal and dependable parspective of the Chinese utopian tradition.
The thesis is divided into six chapters. The first chapter outlines the harbinger of utopian thought and defines the utopian forms of literature or speculation from a historical point of view.
The second chapter traces the rise of Chinese utopia back to the fail and lost of the mytjs and legends of the Golden Age. It then distinguishes three types of literary utopias according to their affinities with the main forms of utopian mentalities: the rational-prognostic utopia based on Confucius ''"the world of grand unity," the primicivs-siaiplified utopia based on Lao Tzu''s "the Little state with a small population," and the supernal-supermundane utopia based on chuang TZu''s "the world of Nothingness." These three types of literary utopias are on different levels when we treat them with time and space in view. For the first type the future is everything and the real world is never to be abandoned. The second type longs for the past and establishes its location. cut off or isolated from the real world. The third type has its locus outside the realm of time and beyond the earth.
The third chapter tackles the significance of the Chinese utopian spirit in light of the concept of man and harmony. Firstly, the confucian and Taoist utopian speculation give to the Chinese people a sort of balance in regard to this-worldliness and other-woridliness. Secondly, because confucianism and Taoism put emphasis on man''s natural equality and harmonious human relations, ideas of class confrontation, as a resuit, were rare in Chinese societies; nor has stratification of society based on a strict hierarchy ever been an essential element for the ideal world in Chinese literary utopias. Thirdly, the confucian and Taoist concepts of the harmony between man and Heaven-earth give advent to the utopian idea of polities. Both confucian and Taoist ideal worlds lean to governing by inactivity.
The fourth chapter points out the reciprocal influence between utopian thought and the changing social climate in which it takes place. The concept of the recluse never ceased, to haunt the mind of the Chinese literatus and to monopolize much of ths spirit of Chinese poetry. However, reclusive literature revealed merely a sense of utopianism but lacked the substantial spirit to see through to its fulfillment. The legendary herb of immortality had incited two wide-scope and life-lasting movsinents: a search for immortality and refining of medicine. Taoism as a religion was born under impact of these two movements, as was the literature of roaming immortals. The confucian social virtues and political order, and the maintenance of culture and tradition remain to be the unchangeable ideals during the transformation of the society. The utopian works, in attempts to illustrate these ideals, put forward a more or less definite program of social reconstruction made attractive by the colors of wishful thinking.
The fifth chapter proposes to give judgment on the literary achievement of the Chinese utopian tradition. At first, Chinese utopia aspires to the condition of static perfection, in which man would be at peace with himself and the external world. Then, the symbolic journey adds concre- tion and actualization by linking utopia to a transcendent place, moment, or psychological situation. Finally, the hypothetical character of the utopian fiction has further iV receded, though still present through the ironical implication of the tragicomic sense. Thus, the deveiopment of Chinese utopian fiction is part of the logical evolution of the myth-creating utopian imagination.
The final chapter intends to give a critical evaluation of the Chinese utopian tradition. It is pointed out that the two positive characteristics are its philosophical background and its moral setting. The corresponding two negative characteristics are its unfruitfulness and its untruth, We can find in Chinese utopian literature only the pursuit of spiritual perfection, material gratification being always neglected. Most utopias are only conceptual in forms, and not clearly sketched with fine details and backed up by systems thoughtfully mapped out. When the utopian writer affirms the nobility of humanity, he totally disregards the dark aspects of human nature and thereby fail to create a human interest. Last but not least, the literary achievement of fhe Chinese literary utopias, namely, its static perfection, its symbolic sense, and its tragicomic vision, all lead inevitably to a stage of radical transcendence. The transcendence of the Chinese utopian literature lies in its transnistorical fulfillment.
The thesis is only a prologue to the study of the Chinese utopian tradition. Utopian tradition in literature remains a virgin land for all scholars of comparative literature to explore, It was a "nowhere" (Utopia) in literature, certaily it will becocie a "better world" (Eutopia) in and on which future scholars may dwell.