China's modern novel "Camel Xiangzi" was serialized by Lao She in a magazine on 1937, and was first published in a single book on 1939. The story tells the struggle and misfortune of a young rickshaw driver in Beijing in the1920s. Xiangzi, who had a hard time, wanted to own his own rickshaw, but he failed again and again. In the end, he could not resist the heavy blow of the social environment and was willing to fall.

The content of Camel Xiangzi is realistic, showing the style of Beijing, showing deep sympathy and care for the lower classes, disapproving the struggle of individualism and mocking the idea of collective action in politics. Technically, the novel has a rigorous and compact structure, uses Beijing dialect, uses vivid words, makes good use of symbols and irony, and deeply describes the psychology and emotions of the characters.

Camel Xiangzi is one of the most well-known works in China's new literature. It is regarded as the peak of Lao She's literary career, the best modern novel in China before the Anti-Japanese War, and a milestone of realistic literature.

Extended data

background information

1937 65438+ 10 month, the novel was serialized in Cosmic Wind. The 48th issue of June 1937 was finished.

Influenced by War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the singles were published by Shanghai Renjian Bookstore 1939.

194 1 Chongqing Cultural Life Publishing House and 1950 Shanghai Chenguang Publishing Company all print singles according to the first edition of the Human Bookstore.

1955 The revised edition of People's Literature Publishing House deleted most of the contents of Chapter 23 and Chapter 24 of the previous chapter; Xiangzi's final moral and physical depravity, the fact that he betrayed Minh Nguyen to organize rickshaw pullers, the scene where Minh Nguyen was shot was deleted, and all the descriptions involved in the novel were also deleted. The revised edition was deleted out of political taboo, while Lao She said that Chapter 24 was incoherent in tone and structurally irrelevant to other parts of the novel, so the whole chapter was deleted.

Camel Xiangzi was included in Lao She's complete works from 65438 to 0983, and its deleted contents were basically restored, but the life experience of a prostitute with white flour pockets and big breasts in Chapter 23 of the novel was omitted.

Camel Xiangzi was first serialized in Cosmic Wind, and the manuscript was kept by Tao, editor-in-chief of the magazine, until the Cultural Revolution when it was confiscated by the Red Guards.

1982, the manuscript was found in the "Confiscated Articles" of Shanghai Library.

Baidu encyclopedia-camel Xiangzi