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Dai Naidie
Gladys Yang (; 19 January 1919 – 18 November 1999) was a British translator of Chinese literature and the wife of another noted literary translator, Yang Xianyi. Biography She was born Gladys Margaret Tayler at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China, where her father, John Bernard Tayler, was a Congregationalist missionary and a member of the London Missionary Society and where from childhood she became intrigued by Chinese culture. She returned to England as a child and from 1927 to 1937 boarded at Walthamstow Hall in Sevenoaks, Kent. She then became Oxford University's first graduate in Chinese language in 1940, following studies there under Ernest Richard Hughes. It was at Oxford that she met Yang. After their marriage, the couple were based in Beijing as prominent translators of Chinese literature into English in the latter half of the 20th century, working for the Foreign Languages Press. Their four-volume ''Selected Works of Lu Xun'' (1956–1957 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as China's List of cities in China by population, second largest city by urban area after Shanghai. It is located in North China, Northern China, and is governed as a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality under the direct administration of the Government of the People's Republic of China, State Council with List of administrative divisions of Beijing, 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts.Figures based on 2006 statistics published in 2007 National Statistical Yearbook of China and available online at archive. Retrieved 21 April 2009. Beijing is mostly surrounded by Hebei Province and neighbors Tianjin to the southeast; together, the three divisions form the Jing-Jin-Ji, Jing-Jin-Ji cluster. Beijing is a global city and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virago Press
Virago is a British publisher of women's writing and books on feminist topics. Started and run by women in the 1970s and bolstered by the success of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM), Virago has been credited as one of several British feminist presses that helped address inequitable gender dynamics in publishing. Unlike alternative, anti-capitalist publishing projects and political pamphlets coming out of feminist collectives and socialist circles, Virago branded itself as a commercial alternative to the male-dominated publishing industry and sought to compete with mainstream international presses.Murray, Simone. ''Mixed Media: Feminist Presses and Publishing Politics'', Pluto Press, 2004. ProQuest Ebook Central. History Virago was founded in 1973 by Carmen Callil, primarily to publish books by women writers. It was originally known as Spare Rib Books, sharing a name with the most famous magazine of the British women's liberation movement or second-wave feminism. The f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shen Congwen
Shen Congwen (28 December 1902 – 10 May 1988), formerly romanized as Shen Ts'ung-wen, was a Chinese writer who is considered one of the greatest modern Chinese writers, on par with Lu Xun. Regional culture and identity plays a much bigger role in his writing than that of other major early modern Chinese writers. He was known for combining the vernacular style with classical Chinese writing techniques. Shen is the most important of the "native soil" writers in modern Chinese literature. Shen Congwen published many excellent compositions in his life, the most famous of which is the novella '' Border Town''. This story is about the old ferryman and his granddaughter Cuicui's love story. Shen Congwen and his wife Zhang Zhaohe were married in 1933, Shen Congwen and Zhang Zhaohe had two sons and one daughter after their marriage. He was slated to win the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature, but died before he could be awarded the prize. Life Early life He was born Shen Yuehuan ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Dream Of Red Mansions
''Dream of the Red Chamber'' or ''The Story of the Stone'' is an 18th-century Chinese novel authored by Cao Xueqin, considered to be one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It is known for its psychological scope and its observation of the worldview, aesthetics, lifestyles, and social relations of High Qing China. The intricate strands of its plot depict the rise and decline of a family much like Cao's own and, by extension, of the dynasty itself. Cao depicts the power of the father over the family, but the novel is intended to be a memorial to the women he knew in his youth: friends, relatives and servants. At a more profound level, the author explores religious and philosophical questions, and the writing style includes echoes of the plays and novels of the late Ming, as well as poetry from earlier periods. Cao apparently began composing it in the 1740s and worked on it until his death in 1763 or 1764. Copies of his uncompleted manuscript circulated i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cao Xueqin
Cao Xueqin ( ; 4 April 171010 June 1765Briggs, Asa (ed.) (1989) ''The Longman Encyclopedia'', Longman, ) was a Chinese novelist and poet during the Qing dynasty. He is best known as the author of '' Dream of the Red Chamber'', one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. His given name was Cao Zhan () and his courtesy name was Mengruan. Family Cao Xueqin was born to a Han Chinese clan that was brought into personal service (as '' booi aha'' or bondservants of Cigu Niru) to the Manchu royalty in the late 1610s. His ancestors distinguished themselves through military service in the Plain White Banner of the Eight Banners and subsequently held posts as officials which brought both prestige and wealth. After the Plain White Banner was put under the direct jurisdiction of the Qing emperor, Cao's family began to serve in civil positions of the Imperial Household Department. During the Kangxi Emperor's reign, the clan's prestige and power reached its height. Cao ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Records Of The Grand Historian
The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st centuries BC by the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian, building upon work begun by his father Sima Tan. The work covers a 2,500-year period from the age of the legendary Yellow Emperor to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in the author's own time, and describes the world as it was known to the Chinese of the Western Han dynasty. The ''Shiji'' has been called a "foundational text in Chinese civilization". After Confucius and Qin Shi Huang, "Sima Qian was one of the creators of Imperial China, not least because by providing definitive biographies, he virtually created the two earlier figures." The ''Shiji'' set the model for all subsequent dynastic histories of China. In contrast to Western historiographical conventions, the ''Shiji'' does no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sima Qian
Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China covering more than two thousand years from the rise of the legendary Yellow Emperor and formation of the first Chinese polity to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, during which Sima wrote. As the first universal history of the world as it was known to the ancient Chinese, the ''Shiji'' served as a model for official histories for subsequent dynasties across the Sinosphere until the 20th century. Sima Qian's father, Sima Tan, first conceived of the ambitious project of writing a complete history of China, but had completed only some preparatory sketches at the time of his death. After inheriting his father's position as court historian in the imperial court, he was determined to fulfill his father's dying wish of composing and putting together th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guan Hanqing
Guan Hanqing (, 1241–1320); sobriquet Yǐzhāi (已齋), Yīzhāi (一齋), Yǐzhāisǒu (已齋叟); was a Chinese dramatist, playwright, and poet during the Yuan Dynasty. He has been described as among the most prolific and highly regarded dramatists of the Yuan period. Life Guan Hanqing was undoubtedly the most productive and creative playwright of northern plays. Described by Jia Zhongming as “the leader of the Pear Garden” (liyuan lingxiu 梨園領袖), Guan was fully immersed in the theatrical scene of his time and was well known amongst both actors and his fellow peers. He is even said to have painted and powdered his face (mianfu fenmo 面傅粉墨) while acting on stage. He is credited with the writing of 68 plays, of which only 18 survive, three in fragments. These were written mostly in the vernacular of the time. In some cases, attribution is highly disputed. In addition to playwriting, Guan Hanqing is also said to be a master of songs (sanqu 散曲). 57 of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Palace Of Eternal Youth
''The Palace of Eternal Life'' (), also translated as ''The Palace of Eternal Youth'', is a play written by Hong Sheng () in the Qing dynasty. He absorbed certain material from the long narrative poem '' The Song of Everlasting Sorrow'' written by Bai Juyi and the zaju ''Rain on the Paulownia Tree'' () written by Bai Renfu. ''The Palace of Eternal Life'' is acclaimed as one of China's "Four Great Classical Dramas", along with ''The Peony Pavilion'', ''The Peach Blossom Fan'' and ''Romance of the Western Chamber''. The performance is focused on the everlasting love story of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and his favorite consort Yang Guifei. This story has been translated into English and published by the Foreign Languages Press. Author , one of the period's most famous playwrights and poets, was born in 1645 in a shack outside Hangzhou City in the Qing Dynasty. He graduated from the Imperial Academy in 1668 and then returned home the following year. At the age of 18, he began to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhao Shuli
Zhao Shuli (; 24 September 1906 – 23 September 1970) was a novelist and a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. He died in 1970, following persecutions during the Cultural Revolution. Biography Zhao was born in 1906 in Qinshui County, Shanxi Province. He was originally called 趙樹禮, which, in Mandarin Chinese, was a homophone of the name he later adopted in his adult career. He attended a teachers college and went on to teach in primary schools. Zhao's major fictional works include 小二黑結婚 ''Xiao Erhei jiehun'', "Little Erhei's Marriage"; 李有才板話 ''Li Youcai banhua'', "The Rhymes of Li Youcai"; 李家莊的變遷 ''Li jiazhuang de bianqian'', "Change Comes to Li Family Village"; and 三里灣 ''Sanliwan'', "Sanliwan Village". The action of Zhao's novels typically takes place in the countryside of Northern China. In this setting, Zhao explores the dilemmas and conflicts of villagers who are facing growing social upheaval. Zhao was renowned for ach ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qu Yuan
Qu Yuan ( – 278 BC) was a Chinese poet and aristocrat in the State of Chu during the Warring States period. He is known for his patriotism and contributions to classical poetry and verses, especially through the poems of the '' Chu Ci'' anthology (also known as ''The Songs of the South'' or ''Songs of Chu''): a volume of poems attributed to or considered to be inspired by his verse writing. Together with the ''Shi Jing'', the ''Chu Ci'' is one of the two greatest collections of ancient Chinese verse. He is also remembered in connection to the supposed origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. Historical details about Qu Yuan's life are few, and his authorship of many ''Chu Ci'' poems has been questioned at length. However, he is widely accepted to have written "The Lament," a ''Chu Ci'' poem. The first known reference to Qu Yuan appears in a poem written in 174 BC by Jia Yi, an official from Luoyang who was slandered by jealous officials and banished to Changsha by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guo Moruo
Guo Moruo (November 16, 1892 – June 12, 1978), courtesy name Dingtang, was a Chinese author, poet, historian, archaeologist, and government official. Biography Family history Guo Moruo, originally named Guo Kaizhen, was born on November 10 or 16, in the small town of Shawan District, Shawan, located on the Dadu River some southwest from what was then called the city of Jiading (Lu) (Chia-ting (Lu), ), and now is the central urban area of the prefecture level city of Leshan in Sichuan Province. At the time of Guo's birth, Shawan was a town of some 180 families.David Tod Roy, "Kuo Mo-jo: The Early Years". Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1971. No ISBN. Guo's father's ancestors were Hakka people, Hakkas from Ninghua County in Tingzhou Prefecture, near the western border of Fujian. They moved to Sichuan in the second half of the 17th century, after Sichuan had lost much of its population to the rebels/bandits of Zhang Xianzhong ( 1605–1647). According to fami ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
