Feng Yuanjun (, September 4, 1900 – June 17, 1974) was a writer and scholar of Chinese classical literature and literary history. She was married to fellow literary scholar Lu Kanru with whom she coauthored several literary works. Feng Yuanjun was the younger sister of philosopher Feng Youlan and the aunt of writer

Zong Pu Feng Zhongpu (born 26 July 1928), better known by her pen name Zong Pu, is a Chinese novelist. She won the Mao Dun Literature Prize for her 2001 novel, ''Note of Hiding in the East''. Born in Beijing, Zong is the daughter of Feng Youlan, a promin ...

(Feng Youlan's daughter).

Life

Feng Yuanjun was born into a family of wealthy literati.Lily Xiao Hong Lee, Clara Wing-chung Ho, Biographical dictionary of Chinese women, Volume 2, M.E. Sharpe, 2003
/ref> She was educated at the Women's Higher Normal School in Beijing from 1917 to 1922 and participated in the

May Fourth Movement The May Fourth Movement was a Chinese anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in front of Tiananmen (The Gate of Heavenly Peace) to protest the Chines ...

during this time. After her graduation from the Women's School, she entered Peking University as a graduate student of classical Chinese literature. She graduated from Peking University with an M.A. degree in 1925. After that she held teaching appointments at

Jinling University The University of Nanking, known in Chinese as Jinling University (金陵大学, Jinling being the ancient name of Nanking) was a private university in Nanjing, China sponsored by American churches. Founded in 1888, it effectively become defunct i ...

in Nanjing and Zhongfa University in Beijing. In 1930, she was appointed as one of the first female professors at Peking University. From 1932 to 1935, she worked on a doctoral thesis on classical Chinese literature at the Universite de Paris in France. During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, Feng Yuanjun and her husband Lu Kanru lived and worked in various locations in southern and south-western China. After the war, she returned with Dongbei University to Shenyang. In 1946, she joined

Shandong University Shandong University (, abbreviated as Shanda, , English abbreviation SDU) is a public research comprehensive university in Jinan, Shandong with one campus in Weihai, Shandong and one campus in Qingdao, Shandong and is supported directly by ...

, then located in Qingdao, and later moved with the university to Jinan. She held her appointment with Shandong University until the end of her career and eventually served as a vicepresident of the university. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

, she was prosecuted as a "reactionary scholar". She died of colon cancer in 1974, before the end of the Cultural Revolution.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feng, Yuanjun 1900 births 1974 deaths Chinese women writers Chinese literary critics Women critics 20th-century Chinese women writers 20th-century Chinese writers Scholars of Chinese opera National University of Peking alumni