Academic Journals and Canonization of Contemporary Chinese Poets

A Quantitative Study

Abstract

Canon formation remains a central yet difficult question in literary studies. Drawing on quantitative methods and the highly digitalised landscape of Sinophone academic discourse, this essay examines the canonisation of modern and contemporary Chinese poets through data from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The corpus is based on articles from journals listed in three consecutive editions of A Guide to the Core Journals of China (2014, 2017, 2020), covering 23,692 articles in 21 periodicals published between 2015 and 2021. After systematic filtering, the target dataset comprises 19 journals, 608 papers, and 270 poets, offering a measurable version of what Boris Dubin calls the “present canon”. Through visualisation and quantitative analysis, the study identifies two major clusters of poets: modern poets born between the 1890s and 1910s, and contemporary poets born between the 1950s and 1960s. Both clusters are dominated by male authors. Mu Dan, Jidi Majia, Zhang Zao, and Hai Zi emerge as the most prominent figures. The analysis also shows that scholarly attention often correlates with special journal columns and commemorative occasions, while women poets remain significantly underrepresented in Chinese academia. 

本文運用量化方法，考察中國現當代詩歌經典的建構。研究以中國知網（CNKI）為資料來源，選取《中文核心期刊要目總覽》2014、2017、2020年版所收錄期刊在2015至2021年間刊發的23,692篇文章為初始樣本，經系統篩選，構建出涵蓋19種期刊、608篇論文、270位詩人的“當前正典”資料集(該概念借自俄羅斯學者伯里斯 · 杜賓)。經多維視覺化分析，研究析出兩大詩人群體：一為生於1890至1910年的現代詩人，一為生於1950至1960年的當代詩人；兩個群體均以男性為主，如穆旦、吉狄馬加、張棗、海子。資料表明，詩人所獲學術關注，多與期刊是否為其開設專欄正相關，而此類專欄又常因紀念性事件而設。近年雖有個別女性詩人廣受矚目，但女性整體在經典化進程中仍嚴重缺席，於學界亦處邊緣。