Lady Precious Stream Shimer College 1942

Hsiung Shih-I ( zh, c=熊式一; also S. I. Hsiung or Xiong Shiyi; 1902–1991) was a writer, biographer, translator, academic, and playwright in Beijing and London. He was the first Chinese person to direct a West End play, and the founder of Tsing Hua Academy in Hong Kong.

Biography

Hsiung was born in

Nanchang Nanchang is the capital of Jiangxi, China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east by Poyang Lake. Because of its strate ...

on October 14, 1902, and educated at Beijing University (then Peiping University). As a professor and writer in China, Hsiung translated plays by

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

and J.M. Barrie. He also published a successful Chinese translation of ''

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin ''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin'' is the traditional name for the unfinished record of his own life written by Benjamin Franklin from 1771 to 1790; however, Franklin appears to have called the work his ''Memoirs''. Although it had a tort ...

''. He taught at universities in Beijing and Nanchang as well as

Nanyang University Nanyang University () was a private university in Singapore between 1956 and 1980. During its existence, it was Singapore's only private university in the Chinese language. In 1980, Nanyang University was merged with the University of Singapore ...

in Singapore. In 1932, he moved to England, studying English literature at Queen Mary College, University of London and translating Chinese plays into English. After the success of ''Lady Precious Stream'' in 1934, however, he abandoned his studies. In 1935, Hsiung's ''Lady Precious Stream'', based on the Chinese folklore Wang Baochuan and Xue Pinggui, was performed at the Little Theatre in John Street, London, by the People's National Theatre, directed by

Nancy Price Nancy Price, CBE (3 February 1880 – 31 March 1970) was an English actress on stage and screen, author, animal welfare activist and theatre director. Her acting career began in a repertory theatre company before progressing to the London stage, ...

and Hsiung, and ran for 1,000 nights. The play was also later performed on Broadway at the

Booth Theatre The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theater at 222 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1913, the theater was designed by Henry Beaumont Herts in the It ...

in New York, produced by Morris Gest. It was adapted for television in 1950. Hsiung's subsequent works were also successful, but did not match the success of ''Lady Precious Stream''.

Relationships

Hsiung's wife, Dymia Hsiung, was the first Chinese woman in Britain to author a fictionalized autobiography. They shared a flat in Hampstead, north London, with fellow expatriate Chiang Yee, author of '' The Silent Traveller'' series. Hsiung's great-grandson is comedian Ken Cheng.

Legacy

Diana Yeh, a sociologist and social activist, gave the lives of Shih-I and Dymia shared attention in a 2014 biography, ''The Happy Hsiungs: Performing China and the Struggle for Modernity,'' published by

Hong Kong University Press Hong Kong University Press (abbreviated as HKU Press) is the university press of the University of Hong Kong. It was established in 1956 and publishes more than 50 titles per year in both Chinese and English. Most works in English are on cultura ...

. It describes the "lost histories" of "two once highly visible, but now largely forgotten Chinese writers in Britain, who sought to represent China and Chineseness to the rest of the world." Yeh took the first phrase of her title from an illustrated article in ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American lifestyle media brand that covers a wide range of topics from home decor and renovation, health, beauty and food, to entertainment, pets and gifts. The Good Housekeeping Institute which opened its "Experiment ...

'' magazine in the 1950s, depicting the couple at home in Oxford. The article formed part of a 2022-2023

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

exhibition, entitled ''Chinese and British''.

Works

* ''Lady Precious Stream'': an old Chinese play done into English according to its traditional style by S.I. Hsiung (Wang Pao-ch'uan), 1935 * ''The Romance of the Western Chamber'', 1935 (trans.) * ''The Professor from Peking'', 1939 * ''The Bridge of Heaven'', 1943 * ''The Life of Chiang Kai-Shek'', 1948

References

Works cited

* * * 1991 deaths 1902 births 20th-century Chinese writers 20th-century Chinese translators 20th-century Chinese dramatists and playwrights Alumni of Queen Mary University of London Alumni of University College London Chinese dramatists and playwrights Chinese emigrants to England People from Nanchang Writers from Jiangxi {{China-translator-stub