Xu Chi (; 15 October 1914 – 22 December 1996) was a Chinese writer. A modernist poet and essayist in his early life, he later worked as a journalist and focused on writing

reportage Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

literature. He became widely known in China for his biographies of the mathematician Chen Jingrun (''Goldbach's Conjecture'') and the geologist Li Siguang (''The Light of Geology''). The , China's highest award for reportage literature, was established in 2002 in his memory.

Early life and career

Xu was born on 15 October 1914 in Nanxun,

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

, Republic of China. His original name was Xu Shangshou (徐商寿). He chose the pen name Xu Chi (meaning "late") as he wanted to live an unhurried life, although he later said he did not succeed at that. Xu studied at the School of Literature of Soochow University. He began composing poetry in 1931, and published his first works in 1934. When he was 22, he published his first poetry collection ''A Twenty-Year-Old'' (二十岁人). His early poetry was influenced by Western

literary modernism Modernist literature originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterised by a self-conscious separation from traditional ways of writing in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented with literary form a ...

. Starting in 1936, he wrote essays which were later published in two collections. His essays were influenced by

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

Early People's Republic of China

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Xu worked as a journalist for the ''

People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' ( zh, s=人民日报, p=Rénmín Rìbào) is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP in multiple lan ...

''. He visited the battlefield of the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

twice and the construction sites of Anshan Steel and the

Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (), previously called the First Nanjing Yangtze Bridge, is a Bridge#Double-decked bridges, double-decked List of road-rail bridges, road-rail truss bridge across the Yangtze River in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China conne ...

multiple times. He published a number of poetry and essay collections in this period, including ''War, Peace, Progress'' and ''Songs of the Republic''. From 1957 to 1960, he served as deputy editor-in-chief of ''Shi Kan'' (诗刊), China's foremost poetry journal. In 1960, Xu settled in

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

and began to focus on

writing. He published several books in this period, including the acclaimed ''Under the Qilian Mountains'' (祁连山下), about the art scholar Chang Shuhong and the geologist Sun Jianchu (孙健初).

After the Cultural Revolution

After the end of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

(1966–1976), during which numerous intellectuals and scientists were persecuted and murdered by

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

, Xu wrote ''The Light of Geology'' (地质之光), highlighting the contributions of the geologist Li Siguang. Soon afterward, he wrote ''Goldbach's Conjecture'' (哥德巴赫猜想), a biography of the mathematician Chen Jingrun, who had proved the

Chen's theorem In number theory, Chen's theorem states that every sufficiently large parity (mathematics), even number can be written as the sum of either two prime number, primes, or a prime and a semiprime (the product of two primes). It is a weakened form o ...

despite being persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. First published in '' People's Literature'' in January 1978, it was reprinted on the ''

'' a month later and became a national sensation. Chen Jingrun became a household name in China and received a sackful of love letters from all over the country within two months. Xu was awarded the National Reportage Literature Prize three times, for ''The Light of Geology'', ''Goldbach's Conjecture'', and ''Xingtian Wu Ganqi'' (刑天舞干戚), which is about the construction of the Gezhouba Dam.

Personal life

Xu had three older sisters and a younger brother. His brother, Xu Shunshou, was a founder of China's aircraft manufacturing industry. His third sister, Xu He (徐和), married Wu Xiuquan, who served as Vice Foreign Minister of China. Three of his siblings, including Xu Shunshou and the two other sisters, died in the Cultural Revolution. Xu married Chen Song (陈松) in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

on the New Year's Day of 1936. They had two daughters and a son. After the death of Chen Song, Xu married Chen Binbin (陈彬彬) in his later years, but his second marriage ended in divorce soon afterwards. The actress Bai Ling is Chen Binbin's daughter from a previous marriage.

Death and legacy

After his divorce, Xu lived alone in

and suffered from poor health. In the night of 22 December 1996, he jumped to his death from his hospital room, aged 82. In 2002, the China Reportage Literature Association and the government of Huzhou city established the Xu Chi Reportage Prize, which is considered China's highest prize in the field. It is awarded every two years in Nanxun, Xu's hometown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Chi 1914 births 1996 deaths Chinese male poets Chinese male journalists Chinese biographers Soochow University (Suzhou) alumni Writers from Huzhou Suicides in the People's Republic of China Suicides by jumping in China People's Daily people 20th-century Chinese male writers 20th-century Chinese poets 20th-century Chinese journalists 1996 suicides