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Zhou Zuoren () (16 January 1885 – 6 May 1967) was a Chinese writer, primarily known as an essayist and a translator. He was the younger brother of
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. ...
(Zhou Shuren, 周树人), the second of three brothers.


Biography


Early life

Born in
Shaoxing Shaoxing (; ) is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. It was formerly known as Kuaiji and Shanyin and abbreviated in Chinese as (''Yuè'') from the area's former inhabitant ...
,
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 Ji ...
, he was educated at the Jiangnan Naval Academy as a teenager. Following the steps of his brother Lu Xun, he left for Japan to pursue his studies in 1906. During his stint in Japan, he began studying
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
, with the aim of translating the ''
Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
s'' into
Classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...
, and attended lectures on Chinese
philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...
by scholar-revolutionary Zhang Binglin at
Rikkyo University , also known as Saint Paul's University, is a private university, in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan. Rikkyo is known as one of the six leading universities in the field of sports in Tokyo (東京六大学 "Big Six" — Rikkyo University, University of ...
, although he was supposed to study civil engineering there. He returned to China in 1911, with his Japanese wife, and began to teach in different institutions.


During the May Fourth Movement

Writing essays in
vernacular Chinese Written vernacular Chinese, also known as Baihua () or Huawen (), is the forms of written Chinese based on the varieties of Chinese spoken throughout China, in contrast to Classical Chinese, the written standard used during imperial China up ...
for the influential magazine ''
La Jeunesse ''New Youth'' (french: La Jeunesse, lit=The Youth; ) was a Chinese literary magazine founded by Chen Duxiu and published between 1915 and 1926. It strongly influenced both the New Culture Movement and the later May Fourth Movement. Publishin ...
'', Zhou was a key figure in the
May Fourth Movement The May Fourth Movement was a Chinese anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in front of Tiananmen (The Gate of Heavenly Peace) to protest the Chin ...
as well as the
New Culture Movement The New Culture Movement () was a movement in China in the 1910s and 1920s that criticized classical Chinese ideas and promoted a new Chinese culture based upon progressive, modern and western ideals like democracy and science. Arising out of ...
. He was an advocate of literary reform. In a 1918 article, he called for a "humanist literature" in which "any custom or rule that goes against human instincts and nature should be rejected or rectified". As examples, he cited children sacrificing themselves for their parents and wives being buried alive to accompany their dead husbands. Zhou's ideal literature was both democratic and individualistic. On the other hand, Zhou made a distinction between "democratic" and "popular" literature. Common people may understand the latter, but not the former. This implies a difference between common people and the elite. Zhou condemned elite traditional performances like the
Beijing opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...
. He called it "disgusting," "nauseating," "pretentious" and referred to the singing as "a weird inhuman sound." His short essays, with their refreshing style, won him many readers up to the present day. An avid reader, he called his studies "miscellanies", and penned an essay titled "My Miscellaneous Studies" (我的雜學). He was particularly interested in
folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, rangin ...
,
anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...
and natural history. One of his favorite writers was
Havelock Ellis Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality i ...
. He was also a prolific translator, producing translations of classical Greek and classical
Japanese literature Japanese literature throughout most of its history has been influenced by cultural contact with neighboring Asian literatures, most notably China and its literature. Early texts were often written in pure Classical Chinese or , a Chinese-Japanes ...
s. Most of his translations are pioneering, which include a collection of Greek mimes,
Sappho Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...
's lyrics,
Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars ...
' tragedies, ''
Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...
'', Shikitei Sanba's ''
Ukiyoburo is a Japanese novel written by Shikitei Sanba between 1809 and 1813. It belongs to the kokkeibon genre, of which it is one of the masterpieces. Contents ''Ukiyoburo'' (Ukiyo Bath) depicts the humor of daily life and culture through the conversa ...
'',
Sei Shōnagon was a Japanese author, poet, and a court lady who served the Empress Teishi (Sadako) around the year 1000 during the middle Heian period. She is the author of . Name Sei Shōnagon's actual given name is not known. It was the custom among arist ...
's ''Makura no Sōshi'' and a collection of '' Kyogen''. He considered his translation of
Lucian Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridiculed supersti ...
's ''Dialogues'', which he finished late in his life, as his greatest literary achievement. He was also the first one to translate (from English) the story '' Ali Baba'' into Chinese (known as ''Xianü Nu'' 俠女奴). During the 1930s he was also a regular contributor to
Lin Yutang Lin Yutang ( ; October 10, 1895 – March 26, 1976) was a Chinese inventor, linguist, novelist, philosopher, and translator. His informal but polished style in both Chinese and English made him one of the most influential writers of his generati ...
's humor magazine ''The Analects Fortnightly'' and wrote extensively about China's traditions of
humor Humour (Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in ...
,
satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming o ...
,
parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...
, and joking, even compiling a collection of ''Jokes from the Bitter Tea Studio'' (''Kucha'an xiaohua ji'').Christopher Rea, ''The Age of Irreverence: A New History of Laughter in China (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2015), chapters 2 and 6. He became chancellor of
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 chart ...
in 1939.


Later life

In 1945, 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 T ...
, Zhou was arrested for treason by the Nationalist government of
Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
, stemming from his alleged collaboration with the
Wang Jingwei Wang Jingwei (4 May 1883 – 10 November 1944), born as Wang Zhaoming and widely known by his pen name Jingwei, was a Chinese politician. He was initially a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang, leading a government in Wuhan in oppositi ...
government during the Japanese occupation of north China. Zhou was sentenced to 14 years in Nanjing Prison, but was released in 1949 by the Communist government after a pardon. Later that year he returned to Beijing. He continued to write and translate, but published his works under pseudonyms. He died during 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 goa ...
. During the first decades of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Zuoren's writings were not widely available to readers due to his alleged collaboration. Only during the relatively liberal 1980s did his works become available again. The Chinese scholar Qian Liqun 錢理群 in 2001 published an extensive biography of Zhou Zuoren entitled "Biography of Zhou Zuoren" 周作人传.


References


Bibliography

A great number of books about Zhou Zuoren are published in Chinese every year. For basic information about his life and works, see: *Zhang Juxiang 张菊香 and Zhang Tierong 张铁荣 (eds.) (1986). ''Zhou Zuoren yanjiu ziliao'' (周作人硏究资料 "Materials for the study of Zhou Zuoren"). 2 volumes. Tianjin: Tianjin renmin chubanshe. A character portrait by a contemporary colleague at Peking University: * Wen Yuan-ning (1934). "Chou Tso-jen: Iron and Grace," in
Imperfect Understanding: Intimate Portraits of Modern Chinese Celebrities
'. Edited by Christopher Rea (Amherst, MA: Cambria Press, 2018), pp. 49–52. For Western language studies, see: *Daruvala, Susan (2000). ''Zhou Zuoren and An Alternative Chinese Response to Modernity''. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center. *Georges Bê Duc (2010). ''Zhou Zuoren et l'essai chinois moderne''. Paris: L'Harmattan. Comprehensive editions of his works and translations include: *Zhi'an 止庵 (ed.) (2002). ''Zhou Zuoren zibian wenji'' (周作人自编文集 "Zho Zuroen's essays as arranged by himself"). 34 volumes. Shijiazhuang: Hebei jiaoyu chubanshe. *Zhong Shuhe 钟叔河 (ed.) (1998). ''Zhou Zuoren wen leibian'' (周作人文类编 "Zhou Zuoren's essays as arranged by subject matter"). 10 volumes. Changsha: Hunan wenyi chubanshe. *Zhou Zhouren (1999–). ''Kuyuzhai yicong'' (苦雨斋译丛 "Translations done at the Studio of Uninterrupted Rain"). 12 volumes have appeared. Beijing: Zhongguo duiwai fanyi chuban gongsi. Some of his essays are available in English: *Pollard, David (trans.) (2006). '' Zhou Zuoren, Selected Essays''. Chinese-English bilingual edition. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press.


Further reading

* ''Chinese Writers on Writing'' featuring Zhou Zuoren. Ed.
Arthur Sze Arthur Sze (; ; born December 1, 1950) is an American poet, translator, and professor. Since 1972, he has published ten collections of poetry. Sze's ninth collection ''Compass Rose'' (2014) was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Sz ...
. (
Trinity University Press Trinity University Press is a university press affiliated with Trinity University, which is located in San Antonio, Texas. Trinity University Press was officially founded in 1967 after the university acquired the Illinois-based Principia Press. T ...
, 2010).


External links

* *A more comprehensive bibliography of English translations of Zhou's writing can be found in th
Modern Chinese Literature and Culture resource centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhou, Zuoren 1885 births 1967 deaths Chinese expatriates in Japan Translators from Greek Translators from Japanese Translators to Chinese Chinese folklorists Chinese collaborators with Imperial Japan People's Republic of China essayists Republic of China essayists Writers from Shaoxing Republic of China translators People's Republic of China translators 20th-century Chinese translators Rikkyo University alumni Chinese Esperantists Lu Xun 20th-century essayists