A Coincidence between Brazil’s and China’s Paths towards Modernity
Huiwen Zhang
A friend of mine held an inspiring presentation on “Latex, Blood, Ink: Extraction and Exposure in Amazonian performance;” I learnt, above all, a cultural-historical concept of “anthropofagia.”
Unlike its variants in other languages (anthropophagy, Anthropophagie, anthropophagus, anthropophágos), the Portuguese term coined by the Brazilian writer Oswald de Andrade (1890-1954) in his 1928 essay “Manifesto Antropófago” opens a new path to making sense of cannibalism. If I understand correctly, Andrade argues that the crystallization of Brazilian identity results from a constant, vigorous interaction between Brazil and its diverse forming cultures (African, Indian and Portuguese), each of which hungrily swallows the other until a new, all-encompassing culture is created. By naming Brazil’s history of ‘cannibalizing’ other cultures and ideologies its greatest strength, Andrade suggests an innovatively and imaginatively brutal way for his people to assert itself against the European postcolonial cultural domination and ridicules at once the common attitude (between disgust and fear) towards the creepy cannibalism as an alleged tribal rite. Through the iconic and provocative voice of this self-esteem and self-defense argument the Brazilian modernists’ tropical vitality and primitivist fascination shines.
As a comparatist sinologist, I am enchanted by “anthropofagia” primarily because Lu Xun (1881-1936), a contemporary of Andrade’s and the father of modern Chinese literature, addresses the cultural cannibalism from a completely different view in his 1918 short story, “Diary of a Madman” (Kuangren riji). Inspired by Gogol’s “madman” and Nietzsche’s “superman”, Lu Xun’s iconic and provocative title role “kuangren” (madman) considers the 5000-year Chinese tradition a history of (both metaphorically and literally!) eating humans; from this perspective, “Diary of a Madman” reveals in a dramatically yet realistically brutal way the culture-shaping influence of the feudal ethical code and family system in pre-modern China.
The coincidence between Lu Xun and Andrade does not restrict itself to the new interpretation and contextualization of cannibalism. With the title of his 1934 manifesto “Grabbism” (Nalai zhuyi; literally: Take-In Policy) Lu Xun provides a Chinese notion that resonates with the Brazilian ‘anthropofagia.’ The target of Lu Xun’s polemic is twofold: On the one hand, it mocks China’s previous Close-The-Door Policy (Biguan zhuyi) and its current Send-Away Policy (Songqu zhuyi), in consequence of which China first plays the role of an ignorant loner and then that of a fawning clown in world history. On the other hand, Lu Xun throws critical light on what the West has been “sending in” (songlai) since China was forced to open its doors:
“Opium from England and trash cannon from Germany, followed by perfume powder from France, Hollywood films from USA, and knick-knacks labeled ‘Entirely Made in China’ from Japan. As a result, even the alert and sober youth of China became allergic to foreign goods. In reality, this is just because they are ‘sent in’ (bestowed by others), not ‘taken in’ (grabbed by ourselves).
Therefore, we must use our brains and broaden our horizons to grab ourselves!
…
We must take in. We must either apply (foreign goods), or reserve (them), or destroy (them). Only so can the master become a new master and the house become a new house. But we must first be calm, courageous, differentiative, and non-egocentric. Without grabbing foreign goods, humans cannot become new humans. Without grabbing foreign goods, arts cannot become new arts.”
(tr. Huiwen Zhang)
Compared to Andrade’s advocacy of ‘anthropofagia’ as a rewarding process for Brazil of absorbing and blending other cultures, Lu Xun’s promotion of ‘grabbism’ springs from a similar historical setting that challenges and inspires. It communicates both the anxiety of a threatened folk in face of an apparently overwhelming alliance of alien cultures and its bold determination to reverse its disadvantaged position by passionately consuming the hostile strangers’ nutritional values in hopes of cultivating a new culture of its own.
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