Back towards the classics

回归古典

Recently， however， the popularity of foreignisation has betrayed signs of waning. It is true that novelty easily wins the hand of fashion， but fashion is fickle and ever ready to divorce， and the commonsense of a people never fails to render a timely verdict. Among the most popular and distinguished new writers， indeed， there are few whose writings are unintelligible or thoroughly un-Chinese. Wiser foreignised authors have begun to abandon their cheap， paper-flower stuff and set forth on the road to the valley of dancing blooms. One recently published pei hua magazine which has won immediate popularity， is called “Lun Yu” （The Confucian Analects）， a name that would have been stigmatised as “feudal” a couple of years ago.

然而，西化的热度近来有所减弱。诚然，新奇的东西很容易赢得时尚的青睐，但时尚变化无常，随时都有可能被抛弃，而民族意识总会审时度势，及时做出判断。事实上，在最受欢迎和最杰出的新作家中，很少有人的作品晦涩难懂或完全没有中国特色。更明智的西化作家已经开始放弃廉价纸花般的文字，踏上通往繁花山谷的道路。最近有本名为《论语》的白话文杂志一出版就赢得了读者的喜爱——这个杂志名若放在几年前可能会背上“封建”的骂名。

We must not， however， draw the hasty conclusion that all this signifies the disappearance of foreign influence in the literary style of pei hua. On the contrary many foreign touches continue to be in vogue. Punctuation marks and the system of paragraphing—which of course do not belong to the essence of the Chinese language—are not only currently used in all pei hua writings but also applied to newly edited old literary works. Both in poetry and the drama， the western influence remains dominant. The tide of blind imitation has been gradually ebbing， leaving behind it some lifeless shells on the beach. The subtle and slow process of selective absorption is working on the style of pei hua.

但我们绝不能草率地得出结论，认为这一切就意味着白话文丝毫不受外国影响了。相反，许多外国元素仍继续流行。标点符号和段落系统本不属于汉语，但现在不仅所有的白话作品使用，重新编辑的旧文学作品也在使用。无论是对诗歌还是戏剧，西方的影响仍占主导地位。盲目模仿的浪潮已逐渐退去，海滩上留下了一些毫无生气的贝壳。这种微妙而缓慢的选择性吸收过程在一点点影响白话文的风格。

Change in thought

思想的转变

The New Literary Movement has also brought a great change in thought. In his essay， “The Chinese Renaissance，” Dr. Hu Shih aptly describes the change in the first five or six years. “The movement，” he observes， “is no longer confined to the literary reforms. Once the momentum is started， its scope gradually extends till it now includes all shades of radicalism， all forms of faddism， and all kinds of ‘experiments in the new life.’ In the field of literature， realism， naturalism， symbolism， and neo-romanticism all find enthusiastic advocates... In the writings of the younger generation， it is true， there is a great deal of cheap iconoclasm and blind faddism. All that is inevitable.”

和其他事物一样，人类思想也会不断发展。