The Crescent Moon Society (; pinyin: Xīn Yuè Shè) 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 newslet ...
founded by the poet
Xu Zhimo in 1923, which operated until 1931. It was named after ''The Crescent Moon'', a poem by
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...
. The society began as a loosely-organized dining association.
In addition to Xu Zhimo, its other members included leading author and educator
Hu Shih
Hu Shih ( zh, t=胡適; 17 December 189124 February 1962) was a Chinese academic, writer, and politician. Hu contributed to Chinese liberalism and language reform, and was a leading advocate for the use of written vernacular Chinese. He part ...
, poets
Wen Yiduo and
Chen Mengjia, writers
Liang Shih-chiu and
Shen Congwen,
Rao Mengkan, and sociologist
Pan Guangdan.
The Crescent Moon Society—along with other aspects of China's literary establishment at that time—was part of the larger
New Culture Movement
The New Culture Movement was a progressivism, progressive sociopolitical movement in China during the 1910s and 1920s. Participants criticized many aspects of traditional Chinese society, in favor of new formulations of Chinese culture inform ...
.
It engaged in running debates with the "art for politics' sake" (and
Chinese Communist Party
The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
-driven)
League of the Left-Wing Writers.
[to excerpt]
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The Society dissolved shortly after the death of Xu Zhimo in November 1931.
See also
* Chinese literature
The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with the earliest recorded inscriptions, court archives, building to the major works of philosophy and history written during the Axial Age. The Han dynasty, Han (202 ...
* Chinese poetry
Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language, and a part of the Chinese literature. While this last term comprises Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, and other historical and vernac ...
* Modern Chinese poetry
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
Further reading
* Lee, Leo. (1973). ''The Romantic Generation of Chinese Writers''. Harvard University Press. .
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