Feng Jiren (11 August 1912 – 21 January 1996), known professionally as Fengzi (formerly romanized as Fung Tzu), also known as Feng Fengzi, was a Chinese actress, writer, literary editor, and dramatist. Her second husband was the American-born translator

Sidney Shapiro Sidney Shapiro (; December 23, 1915 – October 18, 2014) was an American-born Chinese actor, lawyer, translator, and writer who lived in China from 1947 to 2014. He lived in Beijing for more than 50 years and eventually became a member of the N ...

. In the 1940s, Fengzi did underground work for the

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 ...

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 ...

while also working as an actress (in leftist plays and films) and literary editor (for leftist magazines). She was almost arrested by the

Nationalist government The Nationalist government, officially the National Government of the Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT ...

, but managed to escape to

Beiping "Beijing" is from pinyin ''Běijīng,'' which is romanized from , the Chinese name for this city. The pinyin system of transliteration was approved by the Chinese government in 1958, but little used until 1979. It was gradually adopted by various ...

. In 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 ...

, she briefly went to Korea with the

People's Volunteer Army The People's Volunteer Army (PVA), officially the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV), was the armed expeditionary forces China in the Korean War, deployed by the History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976), People's Republic of Chi ...

. During 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 ...

, due to having worked with

Jiang Qing Jiang Qing (March 191414 May 1991), also known as Madame Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary, actress, and political figure. She was the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, Chairman of the Communis ...

in the 1930s (when Jiang Qing was an actress), Fengzi was severely persecuted and detained for 4 years. She was rehabilitated after the Cultural Revolution. One of her short stories, "The Portrait" (), written in 1947, has been translated into English by Ann Huss.

Filmography

References

1912 births 1996 deaths 20th-century Chinese actresses 20th-century Chinese dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Chinese short story writers 20th-century Chinese women writers Actresses from Wuhan Chinese film actresses Chinese women dramatists and playwrights Chinese women short story writers Fudan University alumni Short story writers from Hubei Victims of the Cultural Revolution Writers from Wuhan {{China-writer-stub