6TH EDITION ★ 28 FEBRUARY - 30 MARCH 2025
★ GHENT ★
Literature
Modern Chinese literature & Shi Tiesheng
A morning walk through the philosophical literary grasslands of China without borders.
Chinese literature has a tradition that goes back as far as the Western tradition goes, and may well be the only other large, rich and uninterrupted literary tradition we have on earth. Despite undeniable Western influences, modern Chinese literature is still very much part of that Chinese tradition, which may partly explain its relative unfamiliarity among audiences abroad.
What is modern Chinese literature? How does it relate to Chinese tradition and to Western literature? What are the differences and similarities? Through modern Chinese writer Shi Tiesheng's 史铁生 novel Notes on Principles (Wuxu Biji 务虚笔记) translator Mark Leenhouts and literary journalist Jan Dertaelen try to find some answers.
Minard
Sunday 30 March
11:00
In Dutch
Tickets on sale
Monday 3 February
€ 20 / € 9 (students) / UiTPAS kansentarief
Who's Who
Shi Tiesheng
With Shi Tiesheng's 史铁生 novel Notes on Principles (Wuxu Biji务虚笔记) presents Made in China Festival one of China’s most influential philosophical novels from contemporary China. It is an introduction to contemporary Chinese thinking and the country's turbulent recent history. For Shi Tiesheng, as a wheelchair writer, physical disability has always been a starting point for reflections on human deficits in general. Notes on Principles, his 'autobiography of the mind', is considered one of the most influential philosophical novels from contemporary China.
Mark Leenhouts
Mark Leenhouts (°1969) is a Dutch translator and critic of Chinese literature. He is author of 'Aards maar bevlogen – Chinese literatuur van nu' ('Down-to-Earth Yet Inspired: Chinese Literature Today'). His translations include novels by Han Shaogong, Su Tong and Qian Zhongshu, as well as a co-translation of the Chinese classic 'De droom van de rode kamer' ('Dream of the Red Chamber'). His latest translation is 'Notities van een theoreticus' ('Notes on Principles') by Shi Tiesheng. He writes for de Volkskrant and has a blog on Chinese literature at: aardsmaarbevlogen.nl.
Jan Dertaelen
Jan Dertaelen is a Belgian journalist and art critic who writes mainly about literature and theatre for the newspaper De Tijd. He's teaching a course on Dutch literature at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp.
About Modern Chinese writer Shi Tiesheng
By Mark Leenhouts (translator)
With its own ways of composition and character portrayal, putting less emphasis on plot and psyche, for instance, the Chinese novel does not always seem to fit into the mainstream model of modern world literature. Still, a modern classic such as Notes on Principles (Notities van een theoreticus) by the beloved Chinese author Shi Tiesheng (1951-2010), seems to have struck a cord with Dutch and Belgian readers since its translation in 2023.
Known for his clear language and intimate tone, Shi conducts a personal and philosophical exploration of memory and selfhood, of love and disability, of death and desire, that impresses as deeply human, even if its ‘loose’ narrative structure could be daunting to some. Notes of a Theorist can therefore be an interesting introduction to both Chinese modes of thinking and Chinese ways of writing.
By Jan Dertaelen
From the first pages of this philosophical novel you are immersed in Shi Tiesheng’s thoughtful way of thinking, you become addicted to his delicate, meandering reflections, his attention to the human and vulnerable. Shi is a thinker fascinated by the riddle of the human condition. He wants to understand what exactly the ‘I’ is, the ‘I’ that is ‘woven like a knot in the net of the world’. How does that ‘I’ take shape, what does it consist of, and how does it evolve over time? These are complex questions to which this novel as a whole provides the poetic, nuanced and overwhelmingly moving answer.
Applause also to translator Mark Leenhouts, who has succeeded in translating Shi’s enchanting, rhythmic prose into an almost intoxicating Dutch. It makes this grand and timeless novel all the more attractive.
In collaboration with
