The country was the part of throes in China in radical cultural changes in the early 20th century and also the most important
resources of Chinese literature throughout the 20th century. Hence the greatest accomplishments of the 20th-century Chinese literature in country novels. From the contemporary view, invetigations of the writers’ viewpoints, aesthetic stands, narrative strategies and meaning in modernistic construction show that the 20th-century country novels presented three basic traditions: the enlightening
tradition started by Lu Xun, Han Shaogong and the like, who wrote with an intellectual culture-critical stand, the poetic tradition established by Fei Ming, Shen Congwen, Sun Li, Wang Zengqi and Jia Pingwa, who wrote with an intellectual humanistic aesthetic stand, and the “epic” tradition introduced by Zhao Shuli, Liu Qing, Gao Xiaosheng and Lu Yao who wrote with a realistic farmer’s stand. These three traditions were thoroughly and completely synthesized and overtaken in the country novel “White Deer Heights” which appeared in the 1990’s. In this connection, “White Deer Heights” made history in literature by carrying
Chinese country novels forward to maturity.