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“All that happens on the earth”: On Wei An’s deep ecological view

This thesis examines the writing of Wei An苇岸 (1960-1999), a contemporary Chinese nature writer, from an eco-critical perspective grounded in deep ecological view. Urged on by China’s environmental crisis and social problems, and influenced by Western literature and his own life experience, Wei An developed his own deep ecological life philosophy. He respected every creature’s intrinsic value, appreciated the beauty and wonders of nature, advocated the Land Ethic and practiced vegetarianism. He highly treasured the agrarian civilization and objected to modern industrialization, in which he saw very little of any value. Meanwhile, Wei An’s ideas contain questionable aspects like the exaggeration of the defects of modernization and idealization of rural living. Although filled with weak aspects, Wei An’s ecosophy is a faint but significant voice in contemporary Chinese literature and society, and reflects important changes happening in contemporary China.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVIV.1828/1037
Date30 July 2008
CreatorsZhou, Yulin
ContributorsKing, Richard
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish, English
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
RightsAvailable to the World Wide Web

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