The Dual Beauty of Nature and Humanity: A Critical Reading on the Traditional Chinese Culture in Magpie Bridge

Abstract

Set within a nostalgia narrative of traditional Chinese culture in modern China, The Magpie Bridge by Liu Hong in 2003 can be regarded as a masterpiece of Chinese culture. This essay applies Maurice Halbwachs’ collective memory to analyze how different Chinese cultures are described and function as personal memory to develop the whole narration of this novel. Traditional Chinese culture is represented in various forms, such as Chinese love myths, classical poems and Chinese gardens, etc. The analysis reveals that Liu Hong provides a new perspective to comprehend the cultural representation of traditional China. By applying the elements of traditional Chinese culture, the novel actually builds up the new image of China and Chinese people in contemporary British society. It proves that the essence of traditional Chinese culture is that Chinese people live in harmony with nature and be friendly with foreign countries, which is also the nature of traditional Chinese aestheticism.