Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 1, 2025

The Literary Geography of the North-South Divide and the Cultural Memory of Aesthetics

(Abstract)

Chen Xiaoming

The North-South divide represents a profound and enduring cultural memory rooted in Chinese tradition. It establishes an influential geographical narrative category and constitutes a classical and even modern paradigm of Chinese literary theory. This literary-geographical paradigm, implicit throughout the evolution of Chinese literature since ancient times, highlights two key aspects: the remarkable continuity of Chinese literary traditions, and their distinct aesthetic composition and value orientation compared to Western literature. While geospatiality is a construct of human imagination, it carries the weight of traditional accumulation and deep cultural memory. These elements, intertwined with the processes of modernity and the impulses of contemporaneity, collectively provide a rational foundation. In the current era, the concept of “New South writing” in literary creation and scholarship reaffirms contemporary literature’s aspiration to chart a future orientation through geographical paths. This new mode of writing is deeply grounded in the essence of agrarian civilization, which defines both its role and its destiny. Though it stands at the threshold of global literature, it remains profoundly connected to the landscapes and terrain of China.