The Debate on the Use of Allusions During the May Fourth Movement Period and a Discussion on the Use of Allusions in Modern Chinese
"Avoiding using allusions"was an important aspect of Hu Shi's literary reform,which advoca-ted the use of vernacular Chinese.He distinguished between"broad allusions"and"narrow allusions",and op-posed to the use of"narrow allusions".For him,using allusions was a sign of lack of talent and creativity,and was likely to lead to ambiguities and misunderstandings in expression.Both Chen Duxiu and Qian Xuantong a-greed with him.Chen approached mainly from the aesthetic perspective of the artistic quality of language,while Qian believed that using allusions might damage the directness and lucidity which characterizes vernacular Chi-nese.However,Fei Ming thought differently,arguing that using allusions was a sign of"skilled authors"and viewing allusions as essentially a rhetorical device rather than a means of content expression.Fundamentally,u-sing allusions is a linguistic issue,a means of both rhetorical and expressive purposes.Taking advantage of famil-iar sayings and stories that everyone knows,the use of allusion helps convey the user's thoughts while continue tradition.It is a natural linguistic phenomenon and an inevitable result of language acquisition,rather than an ar-tificial and deliberate word game.Because of its aesthetic and logical functions,it has been widely used in mod-em Chinese writing,whether in the form of classical,contemporary and foreign allusions.
use of allusionsmodem ChineseHu ShiChen DuxiuQian XuantongFei Mingcon-temporary allusionsforeign allusions
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