Abstract
Shen Congwen (SCW) and Wang Zengqi (WZQ), as prominent figures in modern Chinese literature, are widely known for their well-established master–disciple relationship. Although this literary connection implies a transmission of aesthetic and linguistic values, their works exhibit marked stylistic differences. Accordingly, this study examines the stylistic continuities and differences between SCW and WZQ by constructing a dedicated corpus of their writings, comprising several million Chinese characters, and analyzing 18 linguistic features, including lexical richness, descriptivity, activity, nominality, keywords, word length distribution, and part-of-speech distribution. In addition, the study employed principal component analysis to uncover potential clustering and distinguishing patterns among different stylistic features. The findings show that both authors inherited the thematic orientation of the Beijing School and shared a preference for defamiliarized expression. SCW prioritizes dynamic narrative rhythms with high lexical richness. His style is defined by a somber, lyrical intensity and emotional gravity, maintaining a highly consistent and unified aesthetic. WZQ favors static scene depiction, seamlessly blending vernacular idioms with poetic allusions. His style is versatile and hybridized (classical-modern), underpinned by a consistently warm and serene narrative tone. By integrating the evolution of Modern Chinese, socio-historical contexts, and personal creative philosophies, this study further explores the underlying causes of these stylistic divergences, thereby revealing the inherent complexity of literary evolution.
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Data availability
The SCW and WZQ literary corpora generated during this study are not publicly available due to copyright and intellectual property considerations, but are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the 2025 General Project of the Guizhou Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Program（25GZYB20).
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JB (Conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, software, validation, visualization, methodology, writing—original draft). XW (Conceptualization, supervision, software, project administration, methodology, writing—review and editing).
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Bai, J., Wang, X. A stylometric analysis of Chinese literary inheritance and divergence: evidence from Shen Congwen and Wang Zengqi. Humanit Soc Sci Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-07300-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-07300-1
