The literary supplement of Qian Shui Wan (Repulse Bay) published in Xianggang Shi Bao (1960.2.15-1962.6.30) played an important role in Hong Kong literature and culture in the 1960s. Under the chief editorship of Liu Yichang, Qian Shui Wan was not only a cultural platform for Hong Kong writers and artists but also an experimental forum for them to explore modern literature and the arts. The supplement carried many articles about Western literature and art, as well as the early works by Hong Kong writers and painters. Many young writers and artists who published their works in Qian Shui Wan would later have become the core members of Hong Kong literature and art. A writer of modern literature as well as a champion of modern art, Liu Yichang turned Qian Shui Wan into an experimental groun...[ Read more ]

The literary supplement of Qian Shui Wan (Repulse Bay) published in Xianggang Shi Bao (1960.2.15-1962.6.30) played an important role in Hong Kong literature and culture in the 1960s. Under the chief editorship of Liu Yichang, Qian Shui Wan was not only a cultural platform for Hong Kong writers and artists but also an experimental forum for them to explore modern literature and the arts. The supplement carried many articles about Western literature and art, as well as the early works by Hong Kong writers and painters. Many young writers and artists who published their works in Qian Shui Wan would later have become the core members of Hong Kong literature and art. A writer of modern literature as well as a champion of modern art, Liu Yichang turned Qian Shui Wan into an experimental ground for creativity with no bounds. Writers and artists were allowed to create their special and wonderful works by mixing traditional rules and norms with new ones.

The aesthetic idea “Andersstreben” in modern art is worth scrutiny. The idea underscores the artistic freedom to explore possible linkages across various media, in which different forms of expressions can communicate with each other and crisscross each other’s boundary. Modern literature and art share this ideal of transgressing the limits of their respective media of expression. Modern artists are inclined to create works to play the functions and share the characteristics of other artistic forms. For example, a writer may create a poem and try to import the characteristics of music or painting. Readers can read, view, and listen to the piece simultaneously. The works in Qian Shui Wan have exhibited such experiences and feelings of “Andersstreben,” and provided good source materials for studying Hong Kong literature and modern art. However, these materials have seldom been explored or studied, and so this research aims to address the missing field.

The thesis is divided into two parts. Part One studies the paintings and poems of Wang Wuxie (Wong Wucius) and Kun Nan in Qian Shui Wan. The thesis analyzes the relationships between their early and late works with regard to their aesthetic merits in order to understand how the painter and the poet aspired to reach the sublime in painting and poetry. Part Two focuses on Liu Yichang in his editorial capacity in Qian Shui Wan. It investigates how Liu’s editorial directions have affected his style of poems and prose fictions. It argues that Liu has consistently invested his literary works with rich visual elements in order to enhance the expressive capacity of literature. Again, Liu’s editorial styles and their impacts on the visual aspects of his literary works have been little studied. The thesis intends to reread Liu’s works in a new light.