On the Sinicization of Stream-of-consciousness Narrative Techniques in Liu Yichang’s The Drunkard

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-541-6_18How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Liu Yichang; The Drunkard; Stream of Consciousness; Sinicization

Abstract

Liu Yichang’s The Drunkard is regarded as the first stream-of-consciousness novel in China. The work employs stream-of-consciousness techniques to depict Hong Kong society in the 1960s and his views on new literature, with its application of stream-of-consciousness techniques bearing distinct Eastern characteristics and Chinese cultural features. This paper analyzes The Drunkard from perspectives including the infiltration of Eastern philosophical thought and imagery, linguistic localization, expressions in popular literature, and the Hong Kong-specific adaptation of narrative content. Specific analyses include the connection between the protagonist’s philosophy and Taoist thought, the continuation of traditional imagery of Chinese literati drowning sorrows in wine, the use of dialectal expressions and martial arts elements, and detailed depictions of Hong Kong’s socio-economic conditions. These demonstrate Liu Yichang’s innovative Sinicization of stream-of-consciousness techniques in The Drunkard, which holds pioneering and exemplary significance for the creation of stream-of-consciousness novels in modern Chinese literature. This paper holds that the Chineseization of this stream-of-consciousness narrative technique reconstructs the expression paradigm of stream-of-consciousness with local experience and provides important inspiration for the narrative innovation of modern Chinese novels.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Ruqing Xu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/26
TI  - On the Sinicization of Stream-of-consciousness Narrative Techniques in Liu Yichang’s The Drunkard
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 5th International Conference on Culture, Design and Social Development (CDSD 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 145
EP  - 152
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-541-6_18
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-541-6_18
ID  - Xu2026
ER  -