Lady Precious Stream Shimer College 1942

Hsiung Shih-I (; 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 Province, People's Republic of 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 ...

on October 14, 1902, and educated at

Beijing University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

(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 simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

and

J.M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

. 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 himself appears to have called the work his ''Memoirs''. Although it had ...

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

Nanyang University Nanyang University (, also known as Nantah (), was a 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 Univer ...

in Singapore. In 1932, he moved to England, studying English literature at

Queen Mary College, University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and previously Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of ...

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 and theatre director. Her acting career began in a repertory theatre company before progressing to the London stage, silent films, talkies and ...

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

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

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. Opened in 1913, the theater was designed by Henry Beaumont Herts in the Italian Renaissance ...

in New York, produced by

Morris Gest Morris Gest (also Maurice Guest, March 15, 1875 – May 16, 1942) was an American theatre producer, theatrical producer of the early 20th century. Early life Moishe Gershnowitz was born near Vilna (then part of the Russian empire, now Lithuania), ...

. 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 with fellow expatriate

Chiang Yee Chiang Yee (; 19 May 1903 – 26 October 1977), self-styled as "The Silent Traveller" (哑行者), was a Chinese poet, author, painter and calligrapher. The success of ''The Silent Traveller: A Chinese Artist in Lakeland'' (1937) was followed by ...

, author of '' The Silent Traveller'' series. Hsiung’s great-grandson is comedian

Ken Cheng Ken Cheng, is a British-born Chinese professional poker player and comedian noted for reaching the final of the 2015 BBC New Comedy Awards. Cheng studied mathematics at Homerton College, University of Cambridge but dropped out to become a profess ...

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 Republic of China translators Chinese dramatists and playwrights Republic of China writers 20th-century Chinese translators 20th-century Chinese dramatists and playwrights Alumni of University College London People from Nanchang Writers from Jiangxi {{China-translator-stub