East Asian literature

The Western world has played a pivotal influence in the construction and adaption of East Asian literature. The exposure of modernisation and westernisation on the East Asian region has translated into significant literature and cultural developments. One prominent example is the assimilation and adaption of Western literary conventions and techniques into Asian literature.[1] In China, the growth of foreign literature was first introduced and circulated through journals and magazines.[2] Western literature was revised and adapted to conform with their ethical beliefs of Confucianism, reflecting socio-political factors. For example, translator Lin Shu translated Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom’s Cabin to Black Slave’s Cry to Heaven, where he “connects the brutality against black slaves to contemporary US discrimination against Chinese immigrants and the fate of China in the face of repeated military and diplomatic humiliations by Western powers”.[3] Shu's use of the classical styles of chuanqi (Tang dynasty) and cí(Song dynasty), paired with similar structuring principles and techniques between foreign and Chinese literature pieces was driven by an agenda to create an optimistic outlook upon foreign literature.[4] Similarly, this influence was seen present in other forms of literature, namely poetry, in their rendition and dramatization of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice renamed to Contract of Flesh by Zheng Zhengqiu.[5]