Cheng Youshu (; 1924 – 5 May 2021) was a Chinese diplomat and poet. Cheng was fluent in English and Danish.

Biography

Cheng was born in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

in 1924, with her

ancestral hometown An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

in Xiangxiang, Hunan. Her father

Cheng Shewo Cheng Shewo (; 28 August 1898 - 1 January 1991) was a journalist, publisher, and educator of the Republic of China. He was the founder of Shih Hsin University in Taiwan. Biography Cheng was born in Nanjing in 1898, with his ancestral home in Xia ...

was a newspaperman. She is the second of five children. Her sister, Cheng Zhifan () (born in 1928), is French Chinese. Her brother

Cheng Siwei Cheng Siwei (June 1935 – 12 July 2015) was a Chinese economist, chemical engineer and politician. He was the Chairman of China Soft Science Research Association; President of the Chinese Society for Management Modernization; Director of the ...

is a Chinese politician. Cheng Youshu began writing poems at the age of 13. After

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, Cheng was accepted into

Saint John's University, Shanghai St. John's University (SJU) was a Christian university in Shanghai. Founded in 1879 by American missionaries, it was one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China, often regarded as the Harvard of China. After the founding of the ...

, where she joined the Wenhui Fellowship—a Christian Fellowship. In 1945, Cheng and her schoolmate founded the Yehuo Poetry Club (). In May 1945, Cheng joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

, and served in the

New Fourth Army The New Fourth Army () was a unit of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China established in 1937. In contrast to most of the National Revolutionary Army, it was controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and not by the ruling Ku ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. In 1948, Cheng went to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

to work as a

reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. While in Hong Kong, Cheng met her future husband, Chen Luzhi. Cheng married Chen () in Hong Kong. They have four children. In October 1949, Cheng moved in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

, her father went to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

with

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

. After the founding of the

Communist State A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Comint ...

, Cheng worked in the

Chinese Foreign Ministry The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China () is the first-ranked executive department of the State Council of the Chinese government, responsible for the foreign relations of the People's Republic of China. It is led ...

. From 1955 to 1961, Cheng worked in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

as a diplomat. In 1984, Cheng went to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

with her husband when he served as China's Ambassador to Denmark. Cheng died in Beijing on 5 May 2021.

Works

Poems

* ''The Surviving Rice'' ()

Translation

* ''Nb—Some Memories of Niels Henrik David Bohr'' ()

Awards

* ''The Surviving Rice'' – 3rd

Lu Xun Literary Prize The Lu Xun Literary Prize (or Lu Xun Literature Prize) 鲁迅文学奖 is a literary prize awarded by China Writers Association. It is one of China's top four literary prizes and is named after Lu Xun and has been awarded every three years since ...

(2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Youshu 1924 births 2021 deaths Chinese diplomats Chinese expatriates in British Hong Kong Chinese expatriates in Denmark Chinese expatriates in India St. John's University, Shanghai alumni Writers from Beijing