The rise and fall of communalism in modern Hebrew and Chinese literature: a comparative study

Abstract

This article comparatively analyses the Hebrew and Chinese modern literature produced during the rise and fall of the communal movements in the two countries, respectively known as the Kibbutz movement in Israel and the Renmin Gongshe in China. At the stage of the rise of communalism, the analysis notes the two societies’ different “land-labour-people” relationships that are presented in their literatures. After the heyday of the two movements, the comparative study of the literature discovered similarity in trauma expression and reflections upon the communalist ideology. The inter-cultural research shows both the universal impact of communalism to different cultures and the particularity of Israel and China’s national paths.