Li Jieren (; June 20, 1891 – December 24, 1962) was a Chinese writer and translator. A native of

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

, his works are celebrated for their local flavor and realistic portrayal of Sichuan during the late

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

period.

Life

Born Li Jiaxiang () in Chengdu to a family of humble means, he did not begin formal schooling until the age of 16. He graduated from the secondary school attached to the Sichuan Higher School (a predecessor of

Sichuan University Sichuan University (SCU) is a National university, national National Key Universities, key public university, public research university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The university is wholly funded by Ministry of Education of the People's Republic ...

) in 1911 and published his first work of fiction in 1912. From 1919 to 1924 Li studied in France, first in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and then in

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

; he would later become the first to translate the works of French writers such as

Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...

Alphonse Daudet Alphonse Daudet (; 13 May 184016 December 1897) was a French novelist. He was the husband of Julia Daudet and father of Edmée, Léon and Lucien Daudet. Early life Daudet was born in Nîmes, France. His family, on both sides, belonged to the ''bo ...

, and

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

into Chinese. He is best known for a trilogy of long novels set in his native Sichuan and published during the 1930s. The first and most widely acclaimed of these was translated into English as ''Ripple on Stagnant Water'' (). The third and longest volume in the trilogy, ''The Great Wave'' (), chronicles the events of the

1911 Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a d ...

in Sichuan. In the late 1950s, Li revised ''The Great Wave'' significantly. His fiction is considered among the finest examples of Chinese literary naturalism. Li was active in the literary field of Republican China throughout the 1930s and 40s as a writer, editor, and French-Chinese translator. After the establishment of the PRC in 1949, he held various government positions in Sichuan, including that of vice mayor of Chengdu. From 1958, he chaired the Chengdu Topographical Museum Preparatory Committee, located at

Daci Temple Daci Temple () is a Buddhist temple located in Chengdu, Sichuan. History Wei and Jin dynasties The original temple dates back to the 3rd century. According to ''Wu Deng Hui Yuan'' (), in the Wei and Jin dynasties, Indian Buddhist monk Baozhang ...

, which led to the establishment of

Chengdu Museum Chengdu Museum ( zh, 成都博物馆, aka Chengdu Museum New Hall from 2016) is a large city museum in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The museum is located on the west side of Tianfu Square, close to the Jincheng Art Palace, Sichuan Art Museum, Sichuan ...

in 1984 at the temple. He died in Chengdu in 1962. The house he had built on the outskirts of Chengdu during the war with Japan in 1939 now serves as a memorial and museum dedicated to his life and work. Li Jieren's ''Complete Works'', including his translations of French novels, were published in 17 volumes in 2011 by Sichuan Wenyi chubanshe.

Works

* 同情 (1924; ''Sympathy'') * 好人家 (1925; ''Good People'') * 大河小说三部曲 (''The Great River Trilogy'') ** 死水微澜 (1936; ''Ripple on Stagnant Water'') ** 暴风雨前 (1936; ''Before the Storm'') ** 大波 (1937; ''Great Wave'') * 天魔舞 (1985; ''Dance of the Demons'')

References

External links

''Ripple on Stagnant Water''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jieren, Li 1891 births 1962 deaths Writers from Chengdu Republic of China translators French–Chinese translators 20th-century Chinese translators