The Crescent Moon Society () was a Chinese

literary society A literary society is a group of people interested in literature. In the modern sense, this refers to a society that wants to promote one genre of writing or a specific author. Modern literary societies typically promote research, publish newsle ...

founded by the poet

Xu Zhimo Xu Zhimo (, , Mandarin: , 15 January 1897 – 19 November 1931) was a Chinese romantic poet who strove to loosen Chinese poetry from its traditional forms and to reshape it under the influences of Western poetry and the vernacular Chinese langu ...

in 1923, which operated until 1931. It was named after ''The Crescent Moon'', a poem by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

. The society began as a loosely-organized dining association. In addition to Xu Zhimo, its other members included leading author and educator Hu Shih, poets

Wen Yiduo Wen Yiduo (; 24 November 189915 July 1946) was a Chinese poet and scholar known for his nationalistic poetry. Wen was assassinated by the Kuomintang in 1946. Life Wen Yiduo was born Wén Jiāhuá () on 24 November 1899 in what is now Xishui ...

and

Chen Mengjia Chen Mengjia (; 20 April 1911, in Nanjing – 3 September 1966, in Beijing) was a Chinese scholar, poet, paleographer and archaeologist. He was considered the foremost authority on oracle bones and was Professor of Chinese at Tsinghua University ...

, writers

Liang Shih-chiu Liang Shih-chiu (January 6, 1903 – November 3, 1987), also romanized as Liang Shiqiu, and also known as Liang Chih-hwa (梁治華), was a renowned educator, writer, translator, literary theorist and lexicographer. Biography Liang was born in ...

and Shen Congwen,

Rao Mengkan __NOTOC__ Rao may refer to: Geography * Rao, West Sumatra, one of the districts of West Sumatra, Indonesia * Råö, a locality in Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland County, Sweden Transport * Dr. Leite Lopes–Ribeirão Preto State Airport , IA ...

, and sociologist

Pan Guangdan Pan Guangdan (; 1898–1967) known in English as Quentin Pan, was a Chinese sociologist, eugenicist, and writer. He was one of the most distinguished sociologists and eugenicists of China. Educated at Tsinghua University on a Boxer Indemnity S ...

. The Crescent Moon Society—along with other aspects of China's literary establishment at that time—was part of the larger New Culture Movement. It engaged in running debates with the "art for politics' sake" (and

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

-driven) League of the Left-Wing Writers.to excerpt
/ref> The Society dissolved shortly after the death of

in November 1931.

References

Literary Societies of Republican China

Modern Chinese Literary Thought
(p. 497)
The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature
(p. 368)
Twentieth-century Chinese Translation Theory
(p. 198)
The Cambridge History of China
(p. 430)
India and China in the Colonial World
(p. 94)
China
(p. 355)

Notes

Literary societies Modern Chinese poetry Chinese writers' organizations

See also

References

Notes

Further reading