2. The Bible as Devotional Inspiration for Bing Xin

Bing Xin emerged as one of the first female poets and short story writers in the history of modern Chinese literature after 1917. The young poetess published her highly acclaimed collections of short poems, Fanxing [繁星 A Myriad of Stars, 1923] and Chunshui [春水 Spring Waters, 1923],Footnote ⁸ which were filled with the images of light, expressions of hope and praises to God.Footnote ⁹ As early as 1931, Bing Xin was applauded by the literary historian A'Ying (阿英, 1900–77) as “the earliest, the most powerful, and the most exemplary female poet and writer in the new literary movement”,Footnote ¹⁰ and by Wang Benchao (王本朝) as a “twentieth-century Chinese writer with a true and personalised understanding of Christian thoughts”.Footnote ¹¹ Bing Xin herself acknowledged that “the influence of Christian doctrines has subconsciously shaped my own philosophy of ‘love’”.Footnote ¹² She came into contact with Christianity as a student in the Bridgeman Girls’ School (貝滿中齋), the first missionary girls’ school in Peking (Beijing), established by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1864. In her memoir essay “Wo ru le Beiman zhongzhai” [我入了貝滿中齋 I Was Admitted into the Bridgeman Girls’ School], Bing Xin, recollecting the Bible classes of her schooldays, appreciated the admirable image of Jesus who “preached the notion of ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’ and was brutally crucified”.Footnote ¹³ On another occasion, Bing Xin also praised the lofty and loving character of Jesus, who “loathed all means of violence targeting the people, but, in the face of persecution inflicted on himself, responded with the most gracious words of prayer, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’”.Footnote ¹⁴ As an undergraduate in Yenching University, the leading Christian university in Peking, Bing Xin was converted and baptized as a Christian. Though having a Christian faith does not presuppose a direct or profound impact on one's writing, it would be impossible to fully comprehend Bing Xin's early literary works without taking into account her immense interest in Christianity and the Bible, especially in her youth.

Along with her engagement in the Christian activities in Yenching University, Bing Xin began writing works of fiction and poetry, many of which expressed Christian thoughts and themes. Notably, a series of “sacred poems” (shengshi 聖詩) were published in the Christian monthly Shengming [生命 Life] from March to December 1921. By alluding to one particular biblical verse or two in the poem titles, these verses stipulated the source of her poetic inspiration and covered a wide variety of biblical themes, ranging from the compassion of God (“Ta shi shui” [他是誰 Who is He]), the nativity (“Tian ying” [天嬰 The Heavenly Babe]), the passion of Christ (“Keximani huayuan” [客西馬尼花園 The Garden of Gethsemane], “Kulou di” [骷髏地 The Place of the Skull]), to the chained messengers of glad tidings (“Shizhe” [使者 Messengers]), and so forth.Footnote ¹⁵ Compared with other poems which were chiefly based on a single biblical scenario or theme, Bing Xin's earliest group of five sacred poems, published in March 1921, manifested a well-knit and broad-ranging framework. At first glance, they appear to be five separate poems; but, if their motifs and overall structure are examined more thoroughly, this group of poems can be viewed as an organic entity in five interconnected parts, portraying the gradual evolution from darkness to light: “Bangwan刪除g” [傍晚 Nightfall; hereafter “Nightfall”], “Huanghun” [黃昏 Dusk; hereafter “Dusk”], “Yeban” [夜半 Midnight; hereafter “Midnight”], “Liming” [黎明 Dawn; hereafter “Dawn”], and “Qingchen” [清晨 Morning; hereafter “Morning”].Footnote ¹⁶

Inspired by the story of Creation in the Book of Genesis, the first part of the poem “Nightfall” commenced by depicting the lustrous glamour of the Garden of Eden, which was embellished with blossoming flowers, singing birds, and flowing streams of life. Offering a sharp poetic twist, the image of the setting sun bidding farewell to the Garden made a subtle reference to the downfall of Adam and Eve whose spirit had turned to darkness with their consumption of the forbidden fruit. This reference was reinforced by the line which portrayed the Creator God “huanhuan de zai yuan zhong xingzou” (緩緩的在園中行走 walking slowly in the garden), echoing the biblical narrative of Adam and Eve who hid themselves from the presence of God because of their nakedness, shame and act of disobedience (Genesis 3:8). While making an implicit reference to the loss of paradise, “Nightfall,” however, transformed the entire atmosphere of despair to that of delight, by reaffirming the divine purpose of creating Adam and Eve: “yao gesong ta, yao zanmei ta” (要歌頌他, 要讚美他 glorify Him, praise Him). Remarkably, Bing Xin was conversant with the Union Version, which had become an abundant source of her poetic expression; for instance, the concluding line “xizai jinzai yihou yongzai de” (昔在今在以後永在的 which is, and which was, and which is to come) was taken verbatim from Revelations 1:8.

The biblical source of the second part “Dusk” is the Book of Job, where Job was beset with the catastrophic loss of his children and properties, while his friend Eliphaz repeatedly attempted to confront Job's demand for the Lord's vindication, by saying, “Hast thou heard the secret of God? And dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?” (Job 15: 8)Footnote ¹⁷ The original biblical verse conveyed an implication of Job's failure in comprehending the providence of God. In recognition of the constraint of Job and herself, Bing Xin made an earnest supplication for God's guidance from His light, not only for herself, but also for all the multitudes in the universe. In so doing, Bing Xin shifted the focus of this particular biblical verse to her own poetic proclamation of God's “wuqiong de zhihui” (無窮的智慧 boundless wisdom) and “wuxian de aomi” (無限的奧秘 unfathomable mystery)—in stark contrast with the limitation and futility of mankind, as in the case of Job.

Alluded to Psalm 16:7, “I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons”, the third part “Midnight” functions as the turning point of the whole poetic piece. Demonstrating some coherence with the previous part, Bing Xin's prayer in “Dusk” was answered in “Midnight”, which affirmed her spiritual reconnection with God by realising the abundance of His love throughout the universe. Metaphorically, the spiritual state of humankind appeared to be embroiled in dismay and darkness, as a consequence of the human downfall. Darkness, however, turned out to be a great opportunity for the poetess to witness the guidance and loving-kindness of God in “Midnight”. The poetess was able to discern the voice of God through the twinkling light of the stars and the melodious sound of leaves, through which she contemplated and acclaimed that “Shangdi shi ai de Shangdi / Yuzhou shi ai de yuzhou” (上帝是愛的上帝 / 宇宙是愛的宇宙 God is the God of love / Cosmos is the cosmos of love). Her praise and thanksgiving was further elevated in the fourth part “Dawn”, uttering “wo xin anding” (我心安定 my heart was absorbed in tranquility) in God's “yanjing guangming” (嚴靜光明 light of absolute silence). With an appropriation of the Union Version language of Psalms, Bing Xin called upon her own soul, the psaltery and harp, to wake up to praise the Lord (Psalm 57:8). The poetess's gratitude to God for waking herself up in “Dusk” symbolically retold her own spiritual awakening and conversion experience at the “dawn” of her Christian life.

Refashioning the poetic language of Psalm 139 in the Union Version, the last part of the poem “Morning” foregrounded the image of a free and gliding bird towards “tianbian” (天邊 corners of the heaven) and “haiji” (海極 uttermost parts of the sea), where God's abounding love was omnipresent. The original Psalm, however, portrayed King David's flee from God's presence by taking “the wings of the morning” to the remotest parts of the sea, after his commission of sin (Psalm 139:9–10). Bing Xin's image of a bird, symbolising her joy and liberty, in “Morning” was probably inspired by the elegant biblical metaphor “wings of the morning”, which refers to the swift motion and passage of the sunbeams. “Morning”, however, altered its emphasis from David's hasty flee from God's presence to Bing Xin's joyful flight to the omnipresence of God's love, “Wo de xinsi / xiaoniao ban chengfeng gaoju / chengfeng gaoju / zhong li bu liao ni wuqiong de ciai.” (我的心思 / 小鳥般乘風高舉 / 乘風高舉 / 終離不了你無窮的慈愛 My thoughts, like a bird, soar upon the wind, soar upon the wind, never be separated from Your boundless love) It is noteworthy that this joyous bird also echoed the singing bird which appeared in the first part “Nightfall” before the sunset. This transformation of a poetic image of a bird fleeing from God's face to a blissful bird flying towards God's love might suggest the divine comedy of an ultimate recovery of the lost paradise. While most parts of this poem were permeated with the imageries of light which might point towards God himself,Footnote ¹⁸ the overall poetic structure of evolution from dusk to dawn, and from darkness to light, might epitomize Bing Xin's pursuit of spiritual enlightenment and her step-by-step pilgrimage towards the God of light and love.

In the preface to this group of poems, Bing Xin highly extolled the poetics and literary beauty of the Holy Scripture, which offered her a bountiful spring of poetic inspiration. For Bing Xin, the Bible was “filled with extraordinary beauty in its words and phrases. Among them, some particular verses are just like a picture, full of sacred, solemn, bright and mysterious images. A number of favourite verses have been picked for literary refashioning. Naturally, the original meaning is extremely vast and sophisticated. I merely captured and jotted down my personal, episodic and spontaneous feelings”.Footnote ¹⁹ In other words, Bing Xin spontaneously expressed her religious sentiments and commitment by composing a series of “sacred poems” as her own poetic response to the striking beauty of biblical images. Those imageries, however, were often employed out of the original biblical contexts or theological implications. Notably, all the original biblical verses of the aforementioned poem by Bing Xin touched upon the motifs of human trials and tribulation, like the disobedience of Adam and Eve, the suffering of Job, and the sin of David. These negative references, however, were often refashioned and replaced by pictures of light and aura of peace. Put it another way, Bing Xin transcended the human sufferings of the original biblical contexts, and focused on the supreme holiness and mystery of God, thereby expressing her whole-hearted trust and admiration of God's love and wisdom in her poetry.

It is also worth noting that Bing Xin concluded every part of this series of poems with “Amen”, which transformed the artistic work to a religious expression in the form of a prayer. While poetry is the artistic means to convey her feelings, prayer constitutes a spiritual channel and devotional act of expressing her personal concerns, innermost sentiments, and religious commitment. Comprising different forms of prayers ranging from supplication, thanksgiving to praise, these “prayer poems” capture the poetess's seeking for divine guidance, exaltation of God's greatness, pleading for the strength to face challenges in the imitation of Christ, and pouring out her gratitude towards God. Further, Bing Xin's poetic creation could be epitomized in William Wordsworth's (1770–1850) words, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility”.Footnote ²⁰ The Bible, or specifically the Union Version, became a wellspring of devotional inspiration and imageries for Bing Xin to express her powerful religious feelings. On the personal level, this sacred poem could be considered a literary representation of Bing Xin's personal spiritual journey or conversion experience. From a broader perspective, the poem may even manifest the universal journey of the downfall, enlightenment, and redemption of humankind.

3. The Bible as Ideological Inspiration for Zhou Zuoren

Compared with Bing Xin's devotional inspiration, Zhou Zuoren (Reference Zhou1885–1967) represented another dimension of the biblical influence on modern Chinese poetry: ideological inspiration. The younger brother of the renowned writer Zhou Shuren (周樹人, Reference Zhou1881–1936), better known as Lu Xun (魯迅), Zhou Zuoren emerged as a leading Chinese essayist, literary scholar, and translator of the 1920s and 1930s. Upon completion of his studies of Japanese literature and classical Greek in Japan, Zhou returned to China in 1911 and became a professor at Peking University in 1917. During the May Fourth literary movement, Zhou advocated the use of vernacular Chinese and the notion of “humane literature”.Footnote ²¹ In his essay “Ren de wenxue” [人的文學 Humane Literature], Zhou campaigned for the liberation of human nature, and strived to live an “ideal life” of “benefiting self while also benefiting others, and of benefiting others while also benefiting himself”. He proposed that humane literature “applies this humanitarianism in its recordings and studies of all questions concerning human life”.Footnote ²²

Zhou Zuoren's notion of humanitarianism and “humane literature” might be directly inspired by his reading of the Bible. Zhou, though not a Christian, always kept a King James Bible by his side for the purpose of studying English, after his first encounter with the Bible as a student in Nanking (Nanjing) in the early 1900s. He had even attempted to learn Greek in order to re-translate the New Testament, or at least render the Four Gospels into elegant classical Chinese. Once an admirer of the teachings of Jesus, Zhou had maintained that Christianity might be beneficial for the reformation of China.Footnote ²³ In his lecture entitled “Shengshu yu Zhongguo wenxue” (聖書與中國文學 The Bible and Chinese Literature) delivered in Yenching University in 1920, Zhou regarded the Bible as a treasured anthology of Jewish literature, especially adoring the lyrical pieces like the Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs. He highlighted the humanistic values embodied in the teachings of Jesus, by quoting Matthew 5: 43–44 from the Union Version, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”. He further exclaimed that “What a lofty spirit! Here lies half of the source of humanitarianism in modern literature and arts. If we want to understand the literature of the gospel of love by writers like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, it is inevitable to heed and examine this source”.Footnote ²⁴ In this connection, Zhou asserted that the humanistic values in modern literature largely originated from the noble spirit and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Commenting specifically on the Union Version, published just one year before his lecture, Zhou struck a very positive note on its language as a rare example of good vernacular Chinese. In his view, the original purpose of producing the Union Version was “religiously-oriented, without a deliberate emphasis on the literary aspect. However, its conscientious and faithful approach of translation has to a large extent preserved the literary taste of the original text, thus enhancing the literary value of the translation”.Footnote ²⁵ Recommending the Union Version as a good model for modern Chinese literature in both “jingshen” (精神 spirit) and “xingshi” (形式 form), Zhou proclaimed that “The Gospel of Matthew is undoubtedly the earliest work of literature in Europeanised Chinese, and I anticipate that it will have a great and intimate relationship with the prospect of the new literature of China”.Footnote ²⁶

While Zhou Zuoren was remembered as a foremost essayist and literary scholar, he also tried his hands at composing modern Chinese poems in the early 1920s, some of which manifested noticeable traces of the Bible.Footnote ²⁷ A typical example is his poem “Qilu” [歧路 Crossroads; hereafter “Crossroads”].Footnote ²⁸ Written in the same year (1921) as Bing Xin's sacred poems, “Crossroads” employed the biblical images with a drastically different purpose. The image of “huangye” (荒野 wilderness) loomed large in “Crossroads,” as shown in the opening line “huangye shang xuduo zuji” (荒野上許多足跡 many footsteps in the wilderness). A multitude of footprints have been left in the wilderness, showing the paths treaded by previous travellers, some pointed to the East, some to the West, and some to the South. The poet somehow believed that all these paths would lead to the same destination, but he stood amidst the wilderness, bewildering which way to take. The journey through the wilderness could be viewed as a transitional stage for the travellers who have lost their direction, without seeing the ultimate destination. Back to the Chinese contexts, the early Republican era was evidently a transitional period, when the imperial regime and political system had been dismantled by the 1911 Revolution, but the new cultural and social orders had not yet taken definite shape amid the tumultuous Warlord Era (1916–28) when the country was fractured among regional military cliques. Thus the modern Chinese intellectuals were caught at the “crossroads” in a fervent search for the reformation of the Chinese culture and nation.Footnote ²⁹ Against these socio-political milieu, going “East” (xiang Dong de 向東的) in “Crossroads” might imply either the preservation of traditional culture and values, or possibly an imitation of the success story of Japan, lying to the East of China; going “West” (xiang Xi de 向西的) might signify the quest for Western culture, specifically science and democracy; going “South” (xiang Nan qu de 向南去的) might possibly refer to the affirmation of Buddhism, originated from India / South Asia, which experienced modernisation and revival movement in Republican China.Footnote ³⁰ As a matter of fact, these were some major approaches advocated by different Chinese intellectuals or social leaders in the Republican “wilderness”,Footnote ³¹ while many of these voices might claim their way as the one leading to the destination of the ultimate truth and utopia. By adopting the image of “wilderness”, “Crossroads” might have, on the personal level, reflected the internal and spiritual dilemmas of Zhou himself, and on the broader perspective, captured the perplexity of his contemporary intellectuals, Zhou included, in their sabbathless search for cultural rejuvenation and national salvation during the transitional and tumultuous Republican period.

In conjunction with the reference to Moses in the later part of the poem, the striking image of “wilderness” most probably had its biblical allusion, particularly the biblical story of Exodus where Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, the “house of bondage” (Exodus 20:2). In the wake of the Exodus, the Israelites travelled towards the Canaan, the “Promised Land” bestowed by God to Abraham and his descendants.Footnote ³² The wilderness was the place through which the Israelites wandered into the Promised Land. In the midst of the wilderness, the Israelites had faced the same problem as the poet in “Crossroads”, perplexed about the exact destination or the path leading to that Promised Land.Footnote ³³ Against the Chinese Republican contexts, although China had shed the shackles of the imperial regime, analogous to the “house of bondage” for many modern intellectuals, the internal problems of warlords and external problems of foreign invasion had to be urgently tackled. Remarkably, the second part of “Crossroads” reduced the multiple paths of modern China into two distinct ways: the way of “Jesus” and that of “Moses”, with the claim that “Wo ai Yesu / dan wo ye ai Moxi” (我愛耶穌 / 但我也愛摩西 I love Jesus, but I also love Moses). The poem elaborated by directly quoting the sayings of Jesus and Moses, from the Union Version, “Jesus said, ‘Youren da ni de youlian / lian zuolian ye zhuanlai you ta da’ (有人打你的右臉 / 連左臉也轉來由他打 Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also), and “Moses said, ‘Yi yan huan yan / yi ya huan ya’ (以眼還眼 / 以牙還牙 An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth)”. Moses's words originated from the Book of Exodus 21: 23–24, “And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot”, while Jesus's words came from Matthews 5: 38–39, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also”. Theologically, Jesus reinterpreted the Law of Moses and proclaimed the Law of Heaven in his Sermon on the Mount. The ways of Moses and Jesus were succinctly compared in the Gospel of John 1: 17, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”. In fact, Zhou Zuoren was aware of the theological significance of Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, as can be seen in his claim that “Jesus stipulated his coming as to fulfill the Law and the Prophets”.Footnote ³⁴ In light of this theological implication, Moses symbolized law, justice and revenge, while Jesus was taken a symbol of grace, forgiveness and truth. Jesus's “humanitarian approach” and Moses's “legalistic approach” were compared and placed in the forefront in “Crossroads”.

Jesus and Moses became two pronounced symbols to convey Zhou's quest for the “Promised Land”, but the poet was caught on the horns of a dilemma. Zhou maintained that he himself, if possessing a stronger might, would inevitably follow Jesus and “bei shizijia” (背十字架 take up the cross), and, if he had less strength, would follow Moses to become “shishi” (士師 judges). Jesus had told his disciples that “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me”. (Luke 9: 23) Obviously, “taking up the cross” of Jesus referred to the spirit of universal love and self-sacrifice for the benefit of saving others from sufferings and sins. On the other hand, Moses might represent the spirit of resistance against the Egyptian oppressors; and he foreshadowed a long list of Israelite judges, like Gideon and Samson, who exercised their might to defend their nation against the foreign invaders, as recorded in the Book of Judges. In the face of Republican China's internal military conflicts and foreign imperialism, the way of Jesus might refer to a peaceful and pacifist approach; on the other hand, the way of Moses might refer to the resisting and military approach to repel the foreign invaders. The lofty spirit of Jesus was ideologically preferred by Zhou, but Moses appeared to be a more acceptable and practical option for China's national crises.

While Zhou was confronted with the multiple options in the wilderness, “Crossroads” evidently encapsulated his internal and ideological struggles in the early 1920s, as expressed in his letter “Shan zhong za xin” [山中雜信 Miscellaneous Letters from the Mountain, 1921], “The recent shaking and turmoil of my thoughts has reached the highest point. Regarding the selfless love of Tolstoy, the Übermensch of Nietzsche, Communism and Eugenics, the teachings of Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism, and the experimentation of science, I treat all of them with the same love and respect. However, I am unable to harmonize them, nor construct a broad way which is walkable. I just pile these various thoughts up in my head in a chaotic manner, just like a grocery store in a rural village”.Footnote ³⁵ In light of Zhou's self-reflection written in the same year, the feeble sigh in the concluding line of “Crossroads”, “Danshi nuoruo de ren / ni neng zuo shenme shi ne” (但是懦弱的人 / 你能做什麼事呢 But, Oh cowards, what can you do?), might launch a self-critique of the powerlessness and cowardice of Zhou himself, who got stuck in the Republican “wilderness”, failing to reconcile all those divergent thoughts and choose the right way to the Chinese “Promised Land”.

4. The Bible as Archetypal Inspiration for Mu Dan

While Bing Xin's sacred poems expressed her religious conviction, and Zhou Zuoren's “Crossroads” sought the way to national “Promised Land”. Another man of letters, Zha Liangzheng, better known as Mu Dan, was deeply concerned about the destiny of humankind and the crisis of human nature and modernity. Honoured as the foremost poet in 20^th-century Chinese Literary Masters (Poetry), Mu Dan was acclaimed as the “most far-reaching adventurer, most outstanding experimenter and most powerful advocate of Chinese modern poetry”.Footnote ³⁶ An ardent admirer of W. B. Yeats (1865–1939), W. H. Auden (1907–73) and T. S. Eliot (1888–1965), Mu Dan, under the guidance of the British poet William Empson (1906–84), studied the works of those modernist poets at the Southwest United University in Kunming during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45). During the Second World War, Mu Dan joined the Chinese Expedition Force in Burma and fought alongside the Allied forces against the Japanese. The real-life experience as a soldier and witness of human catastrophes may provide some forceful impetus for Mu Dan's thoroughgoing re-examination of the very essence of life and vanity of the world in some of his poems.

Absorbing the techniques of modern Western poetry, Mu Dan's verses also exhibited some deep-rooted Christian and biblical influence. His poems had frequent references to “Shangdi” (上帝 God), who showed a multifaceted and complex image; for instance, God appeared as a “wuyou de Shangdi” (無憂的上帝 impassible God) yet filled with “tongqie de gudu” (痛切的孤獨 agonizing solitude) in his poem “Tamen siqu le” [他們死去了 They Have Died]; as a “fuchou de wanju” (腐臭的玩具 toy of stench) of the American capitalists and entrepreneurs in “Gan'enjie: kechi de zhai” [感恩節: 可恥的債 Thanksgiving Day: Shameful Debt]. According to the Korean scholar Oh Yun Sook (吳允淑), the multiple faces of God in Mu Dan's poems aimed to reject “those value systems that idolised God in the name of God”.Footnote ³⁷ Chinese poet and literary critic Wang Zuoliang (王佐良, 1916–95) argued more convincingly that “Mu Dan's greatest contribution to the Chinese new literature lies in his creation of a ‘God’. He certainly was not fighting a theological battle for an ordinary religion or church, but the poet's body and soul had such a kind of hunger that clamoured for some support and comfort in something out of the human body”.Footnote ³⁸

A number of Mu Dan's verses demonstrated the direct inspiration and literary traces from the Bible, particularly the Union Version. For example, in the first part of his long poem “Yinxian” [隱現 Indistinct Appearance], the line “Yiselie wang cengjing zheyang shuo / yiqie jie xuyou / yiqie ling ren yanjuan” (以色列王曾經這樣說 / 一切皆虛有 / 一切令人厭倦 The King of Israel had once said, “All is vanity, all is making us weary”) was appropriated from the words of King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:2, “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity”. Likewise, the line “Wujin de heshui liuxiang dahai / danshi dahai yongyuan meiyou yiman / haishui you jiaohuan heliu” (無盡的河水流向大海，但是大海永遠沒有溢滿，海水又交還河流 The rivers run into the sea unceasingly, but the sea is never full, and the sea water returns to the rivers.) was a paraphrase of Ecclesiastes 1:7, “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again”. Moreover, seven lines of the poem employed the rhetorical devices of parallelism with several sets of antonyms, for instance, “you yi shihou xiangju, you yi shihou lisan; you yi shihou qi ren, you yi shihou bei qi” (有一時候相聚, 有一時候離散; 有一時候欺人, 有一時候被欺 A time to gather, and a time to disperse; a time to deceive, and a time to be deceived). This was most probably inspired by the similar parallel structure in Ecclesiastes 3: 1–8, for instance, “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” (Ecclesiastes 3: 4) Modelling on the themes and poetic structure of Ecclesiastes, Mu Dan's “Yinxian” explored the depths of reality, and critiqued the futility of human affairs and vanity of the world.Footnote ³⁹

Another long poem of Mu Dan's, “She de youhuo” [蛇的誘惑 The Temptation of the Serpent], written in 1940, was also imbued with biblical allusions, and articulated the poet's penetrating critique of modernity and vanity of human pursuits.Footnote ⁴⁰ The poem was preceded by a short preface which introduced the Creation myth of Genesis, with the opening line “Chuangshi yihou, ren zhu zai Yidianyuan li” (創世以後, 人住在伊甸樂園裡. In the aftermath of the Creation, human beings lived in the Garden of Eden). Satan was incarnated as a serpent to tempt the humans to consume the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, which resulted in the exile of humankind to this world. The poet astonishingly discovered that some people disappeared from this land because of “di'er ci she de chuxian” (第二次蛇的出現 the second appearance of the serpent). Human beings were tempted once again, which led to their banishment further away from this barren land. Evidently, the biblical myth of the Fall of Adam and Eve tempted by the serpent offered Mu Dan ample inspiration not only for the title but also the overarching framework of his poem.

“The Temptation of the Serpent” commenced by portraying the dazzling and bustling night life of a city, and the poet accompanied “Deming taitai” (德明太太 Madame Deming) for shopping in a department store. The red-purple sunset glow was the last hope of the dying people and looked like the bruise produced by the blow of a “bianzi” (鞭子 whip), which probably symbolised the punishment and forced labour after Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden. Overwhelmed by the flibbertigibbets and the deceitful smiles in the city, the poet felt like a “nian shiji de Gelunbu” (廿世紀的哥倫布 Columbus of the twentieth century) voyaging through the graveyard he was exploring, which illustrated a futile expedition in the modern world. Immersed in this multifarious and glittering city life, the poet remained conscious of the light of goodness and evil in his mind. He realised that ever since that day of Satan's singing, implying the lost paradise, the biblical image of “zhihui de guozi” (智慧的果子 fruit of wisdom)—referring to “e'yu, qingya, cishan shiye” (阿諛, 傾軋, 慈善事業 flattery, internal strife, philanthropy) of modern life—emerged in the poet's mind. He was tempted to take the fruit, which would allow him to embark on a joyful odyssey in this “wenming de shijie” (文明的世界 civilised world), and depart from the “Yadang houdai de suming di” (亞當後代的宿命地 destined land of Adam's descendants)—poverty, misery, and unceasing labour and sufferings. However, at this very moment, the poet found that “lingwai yitiao bianzi” (另外一條鞭子 another whip) was raised to lash the people who were “er ci bei zhu” (二次被逐 banished for the second time), signifying their indescribable weariness and “linghun de kuqi” (靈魂的哭泣 weeping soul). The second whip came with the music of Gypsies, telling others the misery of exile and wandering. With the “shengming shu bei jian shouzhu le” (生命樹被劍守住了 the tree of life being guarded by the swords), the people were walking away from the tree, and no way was left for them to return to the paradise. This image was obviously adopted from Genesis 3:24 to pinpoint the hopeless plight of human beings, “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life”.

While Mu Dan excelled in creating the dazzling scenes and meaningless hypocrisy of modern city life, the ancient biblical myth of Genesis provided him with the archetypes for formulating the framework of cosmos and life in “The Temptation of the Serpent”. Through the creation myth of the Bible, the poet realised that the temptation of the serpent was the prelude of the misery and forced labour of human beings, while the contemporary human tribulations constituted the direct consequence of the antediluvian exile from Eden. The sequence of “temptation, sin, exile and misery” became the axis of the downfall of humankind which illustrated the tiresome and meaningless city life depicted in this poem. This “imperfect world”, in light of “The Temptation of the Serpent”, was the outcome of the “original sin” and “exile from paradise”. Worse still, human beings, in all their toil and hardship outside Eden, were actually beguiled by the “second temptation”. If human beings fell prey to the “second temptation” and “second whipping”, they were destined to be expelled to an even more miserable realm.

According to T. S. Eliot, the use of myth manipulates a “continuous parallel between contemporaneity and antiquity” and is “simply a way of controlling, of ordering, of giving a shape and significance to the immense panorama of futility and anarchy which is contemporary history”.Footnote ⁴¹ Thus “The Temptation of the Serpent” constitutes a Chinese poetic rewriting of the Genesis myth of the temptation and downfall of mankind. The fall of Adam and Eve to the serpent's temptation because of their greed and pride became the archetype of modern humans who were prone to similar temptations. And the indistinct appearance of the “second serpent” foretold the existing and future despair of modern people. The biblical images and types emerged here and there in the poem, reflecting and reinforcing the deep-seated doubt and fear of modern man towards their own survival and existence. The archetype of the Genesis narrative also provided the poet with the mythological illustration of the social reality of the modern world.