Xu Chi (; 1914 – 22 December 1996) was a Chinese writer. A modernist poet and essayist in his early life, he later worked as a journalist and focused on writing
reportage
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
literature. He became widely known in China for his biographies of the mathematician
Chen Jingrun
Chen Jingrun (; 22 May 1933 – 19 March 1996), also known as Jing-Run Chen, was a Chinese mathematician who made significant contributions to number theory, including Chen's theorem and the Chen prime.
Life and career
Chen was the third son in ...
(''Goldbach's Conjecture'') and the geologist
Li Siguang (''The Light of Geology''). The , China's highest award for reportage literature, was established in 2002 in his memory.
Early life and career
Xu was born in 1914 in
Nanxun,
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 ...
, Republic of China.
His original name was Xu Shangshou (徐商寿). He chose the pen name Xu Chi (meaning "late") as he wanted to live an unhurried life, although he later said he did not succeed at that.
Xu studied at the School of Literature of
Soochow University. He began composing poetry in 1931, and published his first works in 1934.
When he was 22, he published his first poetry collection ''A Twenty-Year-Old'' (二十岁人).
His early poetry was influenced by Western
literary modernism
Literary modernism, or modernist literature, originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented ...
. Starting in 1936, he wrote essays which were later published in two collections. His essays were influenced by
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
.
Early People's Republic of China
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Xu worked as a journalist for the ''
People's Daily
The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...
''.
He visited the battlefield of the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
twice and the construction sites of
Anshan Steel and the
Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge
The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (), previously called the First Nanjing Yangtze Bridge, is a double-decked road-rail truss bridge across the Yangtze River in Nanjing, Jiangsu, connecting the city's Pukou and Gulou districts. Its upper deck i ...
multiple times. He published a number of poetry and essay collections in this period, including ''War, Peace, Progress'' and ''Songs of the Republic''. From 1957 to 1960, he served as deputy editor-in-chief of ''Shi Kan'' (诗刊), China's foremost poetry journal.
In 1960, Xu settled in
Wuhan
Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...
and began to focus on
reportage
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
writing. He published several books in this period, including the acclaimed ''Under the Qilian Mountains'' (祁连山下), about the art scholar
Chang Shuhong
Chang Shuhong (; 6 April 1904 – 23 June 1994) was a Chinese painter known as the "guardian of Dunhuang" for his crucial role in documenting, preserving, and publicizing the ancient artworks at the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, China.
Early life ...
and the geologist
Sun Jianchu
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball (mathematics), ball of hot plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as ...
(孙健初).
After the Cultural Revolution
After 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 ...
(1966–1976), during which numerous intellectuals and scientists were persecuted and murdered by
Red Guards
Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...
, Xu wrote ''The Light of Geology'' (地质之光), highlighting the contributions of the geologist
Li Siguang.
Soon afterward, he wrote ''Goldbach's Conjecture'' (哥德巴赫猜想), a biography of the mathematician
Chen Jingrun
Chen Jingrun (; 22 May 1933 – 19 March 1996), also known as Jing-Run Chen, was a Chinese mathematician who made significant contributions to number theory, including Chen's theorem and the Chen prime.
Life and career
Chen was the third son in ...
, who had proved the
Chen's theorem
In number theory, Chen's theorem states that every sufficiently large parity (mathematics), even number can be written as the sum of either two prime number, primes, or a prime and a semiprime (the product of two primes).
History
The theorem wa ...
despite being persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. First published in ''
People's Literature
''People's Literature'' (《人民文学》''Renmin wenxue'') is the oldest continuously published literary magazine in China, and the first literary magazine published in Communist China. Established in 1949, the magazine is published by the Peo ...
'' in January 1978, it was reprinted on the ''
People's Daily
The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...
'' a month later and became a national sensation. Chen Jingrun became a household name in China and received a sackful of love letters from all over the country within two months.
Xu was awarded the National Reportage Literature Prize three times, for ''The Light of Geology'', ''Goldbach's Conjecture'', and ''Xingtian Wu Ganqi'' (刑天舞干戚), which is about the construction of the
Gezhouba Dam
The Gezhouba Dam or Gezhouba Water Control Project () on the Yangtze River is located in the western suburbs of Yichang, in central China's Hubei province. One of the largest run-of-the-river dams, it sits several kilometers upstream from downtow ...
.
Personal life
Xu had three older sisters and a younger brother. His brother,
Xu Shunshou
Xu Shunshou (; 21 August 1917 – 6 January 1968) was a Chinese aircraft designer and a founder of the aircraft manufacturing industry in the People's Republic of China. He was the founding director of the PRC's first aircraft design organizatio ...
, was a founder of China's aircraft manufacturing industry. His third sister, Xu He (徐和), married
Wu Xiuquan
Wu Xiuquan (; March 1908 – 9 November 1997) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, military officer, and diplomat. He studied in the Soviet Union, enlisted in the Chinese Red Army, and participated in the Long March. After the founding of the ...
, who served as Vice Foreign Minister of China. Three of his siblings, including Xu Shunshou and the two other sisters, died in the Cultural Revolution.
Xu married Chen Song (陈松) in
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 ...
on the New Year's Day of 1936. They had two daughters and a son.
After the death of Chen Song,
Xu married Chen Binbin (陈彬彬) in his later years, but his second marriage ended in divorce soon afterwards. The actress
Bai Ling
Bai Ling (, born October 10, 1966) is a Chinese-American actress known for her work in the films ''The Crow'', ''Nixon'', ''Red Corner'', '' Crank: High Voltage'', ''Dumplings'', ''Wild Wild West'', ''Anna and the King'', ''Southland Tales'', and ...
is Chen Binbin's daughter from a previous marriage.
Death and legacy
After his divorce, Xu lived alone in
Wuhan
Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...
and suffered from poor health. In the night of 22 December 1996, he jumped to his death from his hospital room, aged 82.
In 2002, the China Reportage Literature Association and the government of
Huzhou
Huzhou (, ; Huzhounese: ''ghou² cieu¹'') is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province (Hangzhou–Jiaxing–Huzhou Plain, China). Lying south of the Lake Tai, it borders Jiaxing to the east, Hangzhou to the south, and the provinc ...
city established the Xu Chi Reportage Prize, which is considered China's highest prize in the field. It is awarded every two years in Nanxun, Xu's hometown.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Chi
1914 births
1996 deaths
20th-century Chinese poets
Chinese journalists
Chinese biographers
Soochow University (Suzhou) alumni
Writers from Huzhou
Suicides in the People's Republic of China
Suicides by jumping in China
People's Daily people
20th-century journalists
1996 suicides