The instabilities in the late Qing Dynasty stimulated the reformation movement proposed by the intellectuals and caused a chain reaction in Chinese literature, in which the vision, theme, narrative mode, and aesthetics gradually deviated from the earlier traditions. In general, regardless of complicated contents and diversity of literary genres, the ideas also increased in diversity, and the language of writing moved from Classical Chinese to vernacular Chinese. From the aspect of literary development, this is the evolution from the old to the new. Even though it was only transitional, its function and value as a connection cannot be ignored. This essay compiles the evolutionary pattern of the prose since Gong Zizhen. Chapter One is the Introduction. Chapter Two, covering the social changes and development from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, discusses the elements of modernization during the late Ming Dynasty, the development and restrictions in the early writings of the Qing Dynasty, to determine the inner clues related to the literary evolution of the late Qing Dynasty. Chapter Three, focusing on the Opium War in 1840 and the writings of Gong Zizhen, Wei Yuan, and the students of Tongcheng Yao School, discusses the tendency behind the evolution of prose in the late Qing Dynasty before and after the Opium Wars (between 1820 and 1850). Chapter Four, covering the period from the Taiping Rebellion to the Sino-Japanese War (1850-1894), discusses how Hong Rengan, Wang Tao, and Zeng Guofan, as the forerunners of the cultural exchange between the East and the West, gradually brought Western knowledge into Chinese prose, thus leading to the development of modern prose. Chapter Five, covering the post Sino-Japanese War period to the end of the Qing Dynasty (1894-1911), with Lin Shu, Yen Fu, and Liang Qichao as examples, discusses the new literary evolution of traditional prose since the early Nineteenth Century, regarding demands for political reformation and social changes. The new course on contents and style had begun, either consciously or unconsciously, thus establishing a new model for literary creation. After the Opium Wars, many literary reformers and other people contributed greatly to the evolution of prose. Yet, this essay can only list a few because of the length, and thus to show the clues to understanding the changes. Generally, the modernization of Chinese prose began the social turbulences and demands for political and cultural reformation. This evolution remained unconscious since Gongwei, up to Lin Shu and Yen Fu. It was not until the Literary Revolution proposed by Liang Qichao, that it became a conscious movement. The new literary style became popular with the press and generated the May 4th Movement.

The core aim of this interdisciplinary research is to provide a critical analysis of the influence of Darwinism and Social Darwinism on a sample of modern Chinese writings. To achieve these aims, the researcher uses a range of both Chinese and English sources to explore their close affinities with Darwinism and Social Darwinism. Following this course, the research examines how Darwinian thought was introduced to the Chinese reading public in the late nineteenth century through a translation of Thomas Henry Huxley’s Evolution and Ethics by Yen Fu, and the subsequent impact of this work and Darwinian thought in general on seven literary and political figures: K'ang Yu-wei, Liang Qichao, Lu Xun, Hu Shih, Chen Duxiu, Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong. From an historical perspective, the Opium Wars and imperial invasions of China in the nineteenth century severely weakened the country’s political, economic, diplomatic, military, educational and cultural power. For these reasons and others, from 1840 to 1949, China experienced a tumultuous period of social and political transformation, which has eventually led to her revival in the twenty-first century. It will be seen that each of the literary figures examined here used evolutionary thought to justify revolution at various points on China’s long march to modernity. Progressive Darwinian ideas sharply contrasted with the old Confucian values upheld within Chinese communities. Nevertheless, the faults and weaknesses of Qing China awakened many pioneering revolutionaries who sought to reverse the status quo by initiating a series of radical reforms and revolutionary movements. Many within the Chinese intellectual elite looked to the tide of change and progress coming from the West, which they hoped might replace the recent historical stagnation and Confucian dogma embedded in Chinese culture and society. In this vein, many of these pioneering revolutionaries set about driving the historical transformation of China by selecting, translating and interpreting Darwinian ideas in their own writings. From Yen Fu in the nineteenth century to Mao Zedong in the twentieth century, evolutionary thought went hand in hand with China’s modernization.

La révolution constitutionnaliste de 1906 marque l’entrée de l’Iran dans l’âge moderne. Sensible, au début du XXe siècle, dans tous les domaines de la vie publique, l’influence occidentale est notamment indissociable du processus de modernisation (tajaddod) des formes poétiques, qui prit l’allure d’une véritable « révolution littéraire » (enqelâb-e adabi). Les poètes, nombreux, qui y prirent part, s’inspiraient essentiellement de la poésie française. Les réformateurs « conservateurs » et « progressistes » qui s’opposèrent dans des débats passionnés touchant la nature de la modernité poétique se réclamèrent tous, à un moment de leur parcours, du romantisme de Victor Hugo. Poussant à son terme l’exigence d’individuation des formes poétiques, Nimâ Yušij se reconnut par la suite dans la poésie « objective » de Mallarmé et dans le vers libre de Verhaeren. En l’espace d’une vingtaine d’années, la poésie persane se libéra progressivement des règles strictes de la composition traditionnelle pour aboutir à un ensemble de pratiques diversifiées qui constituent la poésie moderne, še‘r-e now. En examinant le rôle de la traduction poétique et la contribution de poètes aussi divers que Bahâr, Yâsami, Raf‘at, Lâhuti et Nimâ à la « révolution littéraire », le présent travail se conçoit comme une étude de l’influence française sur la rénovation de la poésie persane. Il s’inscrit, ce faisant, dans la perspective d’une archéologie des formes poétiques modernes en Iran. / The Constitutional Revolution of 1906 dates the entry of Iran into the modern era. At the beginning of the 20th century, Western influence was patent in all the aspects of public life. Among other things, it was to play a crucial part in the modernization (tajaddod) of poetic forms. In Iran, this process took the appearance of a genuine “literary revolution” [enqelâb-e adabi]. Numerous poets joined in the movement, most of them inspired by French poetry. It was clear from their animated disputes that the “conservative” and “progressist” reformists disagreed on the very nature of poetic modernity. But they all related to Victor Hugo’s romanticism at some point in their career. Nimâ Yušij, who achieved the full individualization of poetic forms, would further acknowledge the influence of Mallarmé’s “objective” poetry and that of the free verse of Verhaeren. Within a couple of decades, Persian poetry freed itself from th! e strict rules of traditional verse composition and developed into a diversity of practices characteristic of modern poetry, še‘r-e now. The present study seeks to determine the influence of French literature on the renovation of Persian poetry by examining the function of poetic translations and the role of such poets as Bahâr, Yâsami, Raf‘at, Lâhuti and Nimâ in the “literary revolution”. In so doing, it aims.