Yu Xuntan (; 11 November 1931 – 23 November 2019), known by his
pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
Liu Shahe (), was a Chinese writer and poet.
The son of a
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
landowner who was executed in the
Land Reform Movement
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other body of water, bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the Continent, co ...
, he began publishing in 1948 and became a professional writer in 1952. He co-founded the poetry magazine ''Stars'' in 1956, but was denounced as a "filial descendant of the landlord class" when the
Anti-Rightist Campaign
The Anti-Rightist Campaign () in the People's Republic of China, which lasted from 1957 to roughly 1959, was a political campaign to purge alleged "Rightists" within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the country as a whole. The campaign was l ...
began in 1957. For the next two decades he performed hard labour and was exiled to the countryside until the end of the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
. He resumed publishing in 1978, and his collection, ''Poems of Liu Shahe'' (1982), won the
National Prize for Poetry.
Biography
Yu Xuntan was born on 11 November 1931 in
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 ...
, the capital of
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
province,
Republic of China
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 northeast ...
.
His parents were small landowners from
Jintang County
Jintang County is a county of Sichuan Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Chengdu, the provincial capital.
Geography
Jintang is bordered by the prefecture-level cities of Deyang to the north and east ...
near Chengdu, and the family moved back to Jintang in 1935. His father worked for the
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 ...
government, and for that reason was killed by the
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
during the
Land Reform Movement
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other body of water, bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the Continent, co ...
.
He entered
Sichuan University in 1949, majoring in agricultural chemistry. He began writing in 1948, and served as an editor of a supplement to the newspaper ''Western Sichuan Peasant Daily''. He became a professional writer in 1952, and joined the predecessor of the
Communist Youth League of China
The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), also known as the Young Communist League of China or simply the Communist Youth League (CYL), is a youth movement of the People's Republic of China for youth between the ages of 14 and 28, run by the ...
that same year.
In 1955, Liu published his first poem, which was well received by critics, and became a poet almost exclusively. The following year, he published ''The Country Nocturnes'', his first poetry collection, and was admitted to the Academy of Literature. Together with three other poets, he founded ''Stars'', a monthly poetry magazine, in 1956. He wrote the poem series entitled "Grass and Stars" for the inaugural issue of the magazine, but was criticized soon after its publication.
When the
Anti-Rightist Campaign
The Anti-Rightist Campaign () in the People's Republic of China, which lasted from 1957 to roughly 1959, was a political campaign to purge alleged "Rightists" within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the country as a whole. The campaign was l ...
began in 1957, Liu was denounced as a "filial descendant of the landlord class" and forced to undergo
reform through labour for the next eight years, working all sorts of jobs including labourer and librarian.
During the subsequent
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
, he was exiled in Jintang without a job. He continued to compose poems in this period, but most of them were lost.
After the end of the Cultural Revolution, Liu resumed publishing in 1978. His collection, ''Poems of Liu Shahe'' (1982), was awarded the National Prize for Poetry.
Many of his poems expressed a sense of loss over his youth and sentimentality for the years he spent as a downtrodden labourer. Other poems, written in a serene tone, recorded the emotional solace he found in the difficult times.
He wrote less poetry after the mid-1980s, and spent much time publishing and commenting on modern Taiwanese poetry.
Liu was an outspoken critic of the
simplification of Chinese characters
Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters used in mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore, as prescribed by the ''Table of General Standard Chinese Characters''. Along with traditional Chinese characters, they are one o ...
. He wrote a dedicated column entitled "Simplified Characters are Unreasonable" () in the Chinese-language edition of the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
''.
Selected books
*''The Country Nocturnes'' 农村夜曲 (1956), first collection of poems
*''Windows'' 窗 (1956), collection of short stories
*''Farewell to Mars'' 告别火星 (1957), second collection of poems
*''Poems of Liu Shahe'' 流沙河诗话 (1982), winner of the National Prize for Poetry
*''Track of the Wanderer'' 游踪 (1983), collection of poems
*''Goodbye, Hometown'' 故园别 (1983), collection of poems
*''Twelve Taiwan Poets'' 台湾诗人十二家, commentary on Taiwanese poetry
*''Talking of Poetry Across the Sea'' 隔海说诗, commentary on Taiwanese poetry
Sources:
Personal life
Liu married in 1966. He had a daughter and a son, Yu Kun ().
Liu died in Chengdu on 23 November 2019 from complications of
throat cancer, aged 88.
See also
*
Tie Liu
Tie Liu (; born 1933) is the pen name of the Chinese writer and underground publisher Huang Zerong ().
Biography
Tie Liu was born in 1933 in Sichuan, Republic of China, and was an ardent revolutionary in his youth. In 1957, during Communist leade ...
, a fellow Sichuanese writer denounced and imprisoned as a "rightist"
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Shahe
1931 births
2019 deaths
Writers from Chengdu
People's Republic of China poets
Victims of the Anti-Rightist Campaign
Poets from Sichuan
Sichuan University alumni
Chinese magazine publishers (people)
20th-century Chinese poets
21st-century Chinese poets
Chinese literary critics
Deaths from throat cancer
Deaths from cancer in the People's Republic of China
Victims of the Cultural Revolution