Chinese campus literature: An analysis of the genre within the literary field and of the social roles of protagonists in popular works

摘要

The genre of Chinese campus literature lacks both name and a foreign counterpart outside of Asia, and deserves more familiarity. The aim of this study was to make a start defining Chinese campus literature: the genre consists of works written by both elementary, high school, and university students and their teachers as well as recent graduates. The works can be found in school papers, commercial magazines and journals, online, and as printed books. The protagonists of campus literature works are usually youngsters, and the stories focus on school experiences. I used Bourdieu’s theory of capital, Hockx’s theory of China’s literary field, and Biddle’s theory of social roles as foundation on which to build an analysis of the content of ten popular Chinese campus literature works. I found that the genre can be defined using six themes, namely school, hierarchy, family, social roles, love and sex, and censorship. The results indicate that family often stays in the background, while school life, hierarchal relations, and sex are the most important factors within the stories. The social roles of the protagonists show how young adults are still discovering themselves and finding their way in life: they often suffer from insecurity and social pressure.