Sanmao () was the pen name of Echo Chen Ping (born Chen Mao-ping; 26 March 1943 – 4 January 1991), a Chinese-born Taiwanese writer and translator. Her works range from autobiographical writing,

travel writing Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel can ...

and reflective novels, to translations of Spanish-language

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s. She studied philosophy and taught German before becoming a career writer. Her pen name was adopted from the main character of

Zhang Leping Zhang Leping (, November 10, 1910 – September 27, 1992) was a Chinese comic artist born in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province. He played a key role in the development of modern manhua in China, and is mostly remembered for his work in Sanmao. Early l ...

's most famous work, ''Sanmao''. In English, she was also known as Echo or Echo Chan, the first name she used in

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...

, after the eponymous Greek nymph. Since childhood, she was said to have avoided writing the character "Mao" (懋) as it was too complex; later in life, she legally changed her name to Chen Ping.

Early life

She was born Chen Mao-ping in

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

to Chen Siqing, a lawyer, and Miao Jinlan. She had an older sister, Chen Tianxin. Her parents were devout Christians. Her family was from

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

. After the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, the family moved to

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

. When she was six, her family moved 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 ...

because of the Communist takeover of China. She disliked the restrictiveness of the Taiwanese school system. As a child, she developed an interest in literature and read a range of writers from all countries, including

Lu Xun Zhou Shuren (25 September 1881 – 19 October 1936), better known by his pen name Lu Xun (or Lu Sun; ; Wade–Giles: Lu Hsün), was a Chinese writer, essayist, poet, and literary critic. He was a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. W ...

Ba Jin Ba Jin (Chinese: 巴金; pinyin: ''Bā Jīn''; 1904–2005) was a Chinese writer. In addition to his impact on Chinese literature, he also wrote three original works in Esperanto, and as a political activist he wrote '' The Family''. Name He w ...

Bing Xin Xie Wanying (; October 5, 1900 – February 28, 1999), better known by her pen name Bing Xin () or Xie Bingxin, was one of the most prolific Chinese women writers of the 20th century. Many of her works were written for young readers. She ...

Lao She Shu Qingchun (3 February 189924 August 1966), known by his pen name Lao She, was a Chinese novelist and dramatist. He was one of the most significant figures of 20th-century Chinese literature, and is best known for his novel ''Rickshaw Boy'' a ...

, and

Yu Dafu Yu Wen, better known by his courtesy name Yu Dafu (December 7, 1896 – September 17, 1945) was a modern Chinese short story writer and poet. He was one of the new literary group initiators, and this new literary group was named the Creation Soc ...

, and works such as ''

The Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. Li ...

'', ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...

'', and ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Win ...

''. She read ''

Dream of the Red Chamber ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known for ...

'' as a Grade 5 student during class. When asked what she wanted to become when she grew up, she said that she wanted to marry a great artist, specifically

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

. Due to her preoccupation with reading, Sanmao's grades suffered in middle school, particularly in mathematics. After an incident when a teacher drew black circles around her eyes and humiliated her in class, Sanmao dropped out. Her father home-schooled her in English and classical literature and hired tutors to teach her piano and painting. In 1962, at age 19, Sanmao published her first essay.

Career

Sanmao studied philosophy at the

Chinese Culture University The Chinese Culture University (CCU; ) is a private Taiwanese university located in Yangmingshan in Shilin District, Taipei, Taiwan. CCU was established in 1962 and is one of the largest universities in Taiwan with an enrollment of about 32,000 ...

in Taiwan, with the goal of " indingthe solution to problems in life." There, she dated a fellow student; however, becoming "disillusioned with romance," she moved to

Madrid, Spain Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

at age 20 and began studying at the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

. In Madrid, she met Spanish

marine engineer Marine engineering is the engineering of boats, ships, submarines, and any other marine vessel. Here it is also taken to include the engineering of other ocean systems and structures – referred to in certain academic and professional circl ...

José María Quero y Ruíz, whom she would later marry. Sanmao later moved to Germany, where she intensively studied German, sometimes up to 16 hours per day. Within nine months, she earned a qualification to teach German and began studying ceramics. At age 26, Sanmao returned to Taiwan. She was engaged to a teacher from Germany, but he died of a heart attack before they could marry. Sanmao returned to Madrid and began teaching English at a primary school, rekindled her relationship with Ruíz, and married him in 1973, in the then-Spanish-controlled

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the r ...

In 1976 she published the autobiographical '' The Stories of the Sahara'', based on her experiences living in the Sahara with Jose. Part travelogue and part memoir, it established Sanmao as an autobiographical writer with a unique voice and perspective. Following the book's immense success in Taiwan, British Hong Kong, and China, her early writings were collected under the title '' Gone With the Rainy Season''. She continued to write, and her experiences in the Sahara and the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

were published in several more books. On 30 September 1979, Jose drowned in a diving accident. In 1980 she returned to Taiwan, and in November 1981, she traveled to Central and South America on commission from Taiwanese publishers. These experiences were recorded in subsequent works. From 1981 to 1984, she taught and lectured at her ''alma mater'', Chinese Culture University, in Taiwan. After this point, she decided to dedicate herself fully to writing. Sanmao's books deal mainly with her own experiences studying and living abroad. They were extremely well received not only in Taiwan, but also in Hong Kong and China, and they remain popular. From 1976 to her death in 1991, Sanmao published more than 20 books. She also translated the comic ''

Mafalda ''Mafalda'' () is an Argentine comic strip written and drawn by cartoonist Quino. The strip features a six-year-old girl named Mafalda, who reflects the Argentinian middle class and progressive youth, is concerned about humanity and world peace, ...

'' from Spanish to Chinese.

Death

On 4 January 1991, at the age of 47, Sanmao committed suicide at

Taipei Veterans General Hospital Taipei Veterans General Hospital () is a national first-class medical center and a teaching hospital that provides tertiary patient care, undergraduate medical education programs and residency programs in Taiwan. It was founded in 1958 and admin ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

by hanging herself with a pair of silk stockings. Some fans, notably Zhang Jinran, claimed her death was a murder. Her apparent suicide came as a shock to many readers and was accompanied by public expressions of grief throughout the Chinese-speaking world. There has been much speculation regarding the reason for her suicide: a cancer scare, disappointment over losing the

film

Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is us ...

for her script to the film '' Red Dust'', a loss which she took poorly, or depression over her husband's death 12 years earlier.Tamara Treichel (11 March 2013). San Mao: The Echo Effect. ''People's Daily Online.'' Retrieved from http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90782/8162070.html She was buried at the Chin Pao San Cemetery. On 26 March 2019, Google commemorated Sanmao with a

Doodle A doodle is a drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be composed of random and abstract lines or shapes, generally without ever lift ...

on her 76th birth anniversary. In 2019, Sanmao was acknowledged in the New York Times Overlooked posthumous obituary feature for her book '' The Stories of the Sahara''. Her work is lauded for its endurance through generations, inspiring young Taiwanese and Chinese women yearning for independence from conservative cultural norms. English-language editions of ''The Stories of the Sahara'' were published posthumously by

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a U ...

, following an agreement with .

Filmography

Film

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanmao 1943 births Chinese travel writers Taiwanese women novelists Pseudonymous women writers Suicides by hanging in Taiwan Writers from Chongqing 20th-century travel writers Women travel writers 20th-century Taiwanese writers 20th-century Taiwanese women writers 20th-century women writers Taiwanese people from Chongqing Taiwanese expatriates in Germany Taiwanese expatriates in Spain Taiwanese travel writers Taiwanese autobiographers 20th-century novelists Spanish–Chinese translators Complutense University of Madrid alumni Chinese Culture University alumni Taiwanese translators Women autobiographers 1991 suicides 20th-century translators 20th-century pseudonymous writers Taiwanese non-fiction writers Expatriates in Western Sahara