From Blood on Stone to Ink on Page: Tiananmen Literature and Art and the Prospect of Change

Author

M. Gamble See, University of San FranciscoFollow

Date of Graduation

Spring 5-18-2024

Document Access

Project/Capstone - Global access

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Asia Pacific Studies (MAPS)

College/School

College of Arts and Sciences

Department/Program

Asia Pacific Studies

First Advisor

Professor Genevieve Leung

Second Advisor

Professor Cynthia M. Schultes

Abstract

In the 1920s, Chinese writer, Lu Xun, championed the idea of change through fiction writing. The use of fiction allows a writer to more candidly critique political oppression, social failure, and historical trauma, while affording the author a thin layer of distance from the dangerous truths they illuminate. Three generations after Lu Xun, a fresh throng of Chinese writers and artists similarly aimed to illuminate the truth through “fiction” and art. They shared their unabridged stories and creative works of an ugly chapter in Chinese history, the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Despite the Chinese government’s attempts to bleach the Square, there yet exists a potent and explosive residue that lingers in these writers’ narratives and artists’ strokes about the blood-soaked tiles of Tiananmen Square. As the 35^th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre approaches, this Capstone Project conducts a multi-data-source synthesis of the narratives that followed the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989, and analyzes their impact within the framework of Lu Xun’s idea that literature can create change.

Change through literature and art is possible, even if it has not yet been fully realized in this case. The contributions of literature toward the prospects of political or social transformation are indispensable. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that one great work alone can achieve such lofty aims. Only through the collective endeavor of many voices can the full story of what transpired, and what must be prevented in the future, be conveyed and understood. I rely heavily on interviews with individuals whose lives or experiences intersected with the Square, both original interviews and existing publicly available ones, to evaluate the impact of this collective voice, while parsing out distinctive motivations and mediums each person used for memory, calls for change, or dissent. This project analyzes the concept of political or social transformation through specific means other than open revolution or other violent actions. The question then is whether the pen, or the brush, can produce the desired results. Other research does not specifically answer whether Tiananmen literature and art actually affected change, or still has the latent power to do so. This research helps fill that gap.

Recommended Citation

See, M. Gamble, "From Blood on Stone to Ink on Page: Tiananmen Literature and Art and the Prospect of Change" (2024). Master's Projects and Capstones. 1792.
https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/1792