Author Zhu Ziqing

Zhu Ziqing

Zhu Ziqing (1898.11.22 ~ 1948.8.12) was originally named Zhu Zihua, but later changed to Zhu Ziqing, with the nickname Qiushi and the courtesy name Peixian. A famous modern essayist, poet, scholar, and democracy fighter, he was originally from Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. He was born in Haizhou, Jiangsu Province (now Lianyungang City), and later settled in Yangzhou with his grandfather and father. Born in Donghai, Jiangsu Province in November 1898. Graduated from the Philosophy Department of Peking University in 1920. In 1925, he applied to teach at Tsinghua University. He has long served as the director of the Department of Chinese Literature at Tsinghua University. He died of illness in Beijing in 1948.

Yangzhou is a cultural city with beautiful scenery, its lakes and mountains, and pleasant scenery. It has attracted many poets such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Su Dongpo, Ouyang Xiu, etc. to linger here, explore the secluded places, and write many popular and magnificent poems. Cantos. Yangzhou is also a heroic historical city. In the history of resisting foreign invasion, it has written countless glorious chapters and left many evocative stories. The beautiful scenery of the ancient city and the strong culture of advocating culture have invisibly cultivated the temperament of young Zhu Ziqing, developing his peaceful and upright character and his yearning for natural beauty. The beautiful mountains and rivers of Yangzhou nourished his soul like rain and dew, nourished his emotions, enriched his imagination, and made his feelings always full of poetry and painting. Yangzhou, a famous historical and cultural city, had a subtle and profound influence on him.

Zhu Ziqing has 27 kinds of works, totaling about 1.9 million words, including poetry, prose, literary criticism, academic research, etc. Most of them were included in the 4-volume "Collected Works of Zhu Ziqing" published by Kaiming Bookstore in 1953. In 1988, Jiangsu Education Press once again comprehensively collected, organized and published Zhu Ziqing's Complete Works in six volumes. Although Zhu Ziqing began to compose new poems after the May 4th Movement, "Qinhuai River in the Shadow of Oars and Lanterns" published in 1923 showed his talent in prose writing. From then on, he devoted himself to prose creation and made remarkable achievements. The collection of essays "Back" published in 1928 made Zhu Ziqing a famous prose writer at that time.

Zhu Ziqing's prose is mainly narrative and lyrical essays. The themes of his works can be divided into three series: the first is a group of essays whose main content is to write about social life and criticize the dark reality. Representative works include "The Price of Life - Seven Cents" and "Caucasians - God's Proud Son" and "Chronicle of the Massacre by the Regulatory Government." The second is a group of prose represented by "Back View", "Children" and "Mourning the Dead Wife", which mainly describe personal and family life, express the human relations between father and son, husband and wife, and friends, and have a strong human touch. Third, there is a group of lyrical sketches focusing on natural scenery, such as "Green", "Spring", "Qinhuai River in the Sound of Oars and Shadows of Lights", "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond", etc., which are his representative masterpieces. The latter two types of prose are the most outstanding ones written by Zhu Ziqing, among which "Back View" and "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond" are even more popular. His prose is simple and meticulous, clear, meaningful and melancholy. It is refined with language and is famous for its clear and beautiful writing style, which is full of true feelings.

Zhu Ziqing, formerly known as Zihua, with the courtesy name Peixian and the nickname Qiushi, was born on the ninth day of October in the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu (November 22, 1898) and died on August 12, 1948. Originally from Shaoxing, Zhejiang. Because three generations have settled in Yangzhou, and he graduated from Jiangsu No. 8 Middle School in Yangzhou at that time, and worked as a teacher in Yangzhou, he calls himself a "Yangzhou native". He is a famous modern writer and scholar. Zhu Ziqing's grandfather, Zhu Zeyu, was named Jupo and his original surname was Yu. He changed his surname because he inherited the Zhu family name. He was a cautious person and served as a judge in Donghai County, Jiangsu Province for more than 10 years during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. His father's name is Hongjun, also known as Xiaopo. He is married to Zhou and is a scholar. In the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu (1901), Zhu Hongjun went from Donghai to Shaobo Town, Yangzhou Prefecture, and took office. Two years later, the family moved to Yangzhou City and settled in Yangzhou ever since.

Zhu Ziqing has lived in Yangzhou for 13 years, spending his childhood and adolescence here. His feelings about this period of life in the ancient city were subtle and complex. Probably because life was too monotonous, he later said that only "thin shadows" of childhood memories were left, "like being washed away by floods, so lonely that it was shocking!" However, in the long and tortuous journey of life, , after all, it was the first "inn" when I was a child.

After graduating from middle school in 1916, Zhu Ziqing was admitted to Peking University Preparatory School. "Sleep, Little One" written in February 1919 was his first new poem. He was a participant in the May 4th patriotic movement and was influenced by the May 4th wave and embarked on the path of literature.

Mao Zedong once praised Zhu Ziqing's integrity, saying that he was "seriously ill and would rather starve to death than receive "relief food" from the United States."

After graduating from the Philosophy Department of Peking University in 1920, he taught middle schools in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and actively participated in the New Literature Movement. In 1922, he founded the monthly "Poetry" with Yu Pingbo and others, which was the earliest poetry magazine during the birth of new poetry. He is a member of the Early Literature Society.

The long poem "Destruction" was published in 1923. At this time, he also wrote beautiful prose such as "Qinhuai River in the Shadow of Oars and Lanterns".

In August 1925, he taught at Tsinghua University and began to study Chinese classical literature; his creations were mainly prose.

The "Back View" and "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond" written in 1927 are both popular masterpieces. Among them, "The Back View" was included in the Chinese textbook for the first grade of junior high school. In 1931, he studied in England and traveled around Europe. After returning to China, he wrote "Miscellaneous Notes on European Travels".

In September 1932, he was appointed director of the Chinese Department of Tsinghua University.

When the Anti-Japanese War broke out in 1937, he moved south to Kunming with the school and served as a professor at Southwest Associated University, teaching courses such as "Song Poetry" and "Literary Research". During this period, he wrote the prose "Semantic Shadow".

In 1946, he returned to Beijing from Kunming and served as director of the Chinese Department of Tsinghua University.

In 1947, Zhu Ziqing signed the "Declaration of Thirteen Professors". Protest against arbitrary arrests by authorities. Zhu Ziqing suffered from serious stomach problems in his later years. His monthly salary was only enough to buy 3 bags of flour, which was not enough for his family of 12, and he had no money for medical treatment. At that time, the Kuomintang colluded with the United States and launched a civil war, and the United States implemented a policy of supporting Japan. One day, Wu Han asked Zhu Ziqing to sign a declaration "Protesting the U.S. Supporting Japan Policy and Refuse to Receive U.S. Aid Flour." He resolutely signed and said: "I would rather die of poverty and illness than accept such insulting charity. "On August 12 of this year (1948), Zhu Ziqing died in Beijing due to poverty. Before he died, he told his wife: "I signed the document rejecting US flour aid. Our family will not buy American flour rationed by the Kuomintang in the future." Zhu Ziqing was seriously ill and would rather starve to death than receive "relief food" from the United States. ", showing the backbone of the Chinese people. After Zhu Ziqing died of illness, he was buried in Wanan Cemetery near Xiangshan. The tombstone was engraved with "The tomb of Mr. Zhu Ziqing, professor of Tsinghua University." In 1990, his wife Chen Zhuyin died and was buried with her husband.

Zhu Ziqing embarked on the road of literature and was initially famous for his poetry. He published the long poem "Destruction" and some short poems, which were included in "Snow Dynasty" and "Traces". Since the mid-1920s, he has devoted himself to prose creation, and has authored the collections of essays "Back View", "Miscellaneous Notes on European Travel", "You and Me", "Miscellaneous Notes on London" and essay collections "Standards and Measures" and "On Elegance and Popularity" *Rewards" etc. His prose includes landscape essays, travel notes, lyrical essays and essays. First, there are meticulous and fluent poems describing the scenery such as "Qinhuai River in the Shadow of Oars and Lamps" and "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond", which show the achievements of vernacular literature; then there are the most affectionate poems such as "Back View", "Children", and "To the Dead Wife". The work established a model of "conversational style" prose that is rich in quality, natural and friendly; in the end, he achieved the unity of poet, scholar and fighter with his essays of subtle talk and full of rationality. He contributed to the construction of modern prose in a simple, lyrical and authentic style. As a scholar, Zhu Ziqing has made achievements in research on poetry theory, classical literature, new literature history and Chinese education. His treatises include "Miscellaneous Discussions on New Poetry", "Poetry Commentary", "Classics", "Teaching Chinese Language" (co-authored with Ye Shengtao) and the lecture notes "Outline of Research on Chinese New Literature", etc. His writings are included in "The Complete Works of Zhu Ziqing" (Jiangsu Education Press). Zhu Ziqing was diligent throughout his life and wrote 26 kinds of poems, essays, reviews, and academic research works, totaling more than two million words. His posthumous works are compiled into "Selected Works of Zhu Ziqing", "Selected Works of Zhu Ziqing's Poems and Prose", etc.

Zhu Ziqing's prose

Zhu Ziqing (1898-1948), also known as Peixian, his prose with higher artistic achievements is included in the collections "Back" and "You and Me" Lyrical prose such as "Back View", "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond", "Wenzhou and Traces" Part 2 "Green". Zhu Ziqing's prose is not only good at description, but also achieves the artistic realm of blending scenes in description.

His scenery prose occupies an important position in the prose creation of modern literature. His use of vernacular to describe scenery is the most charming. For example, in "Green", metaphors, contrasts and other techniques are used to depict the quality and color of Meiyutan Waterfall in a delicate and profound way. The text is deliberately crafted, showing superb skills in controlling language.

His superb writing skills are even more vividly demonstrated in "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond". For example, when describing the beauty of the lotus under the moonlight, the author compares it to a bright pearl, a star in the blue sky, and a beauty out of the bath; when describing the faint fragrance of the lotus, he also uses the words "like a vague fragrance floating from a tall building in the distance." In the sentence "like a singing voice", the singing voice is used as a metaphor for the fragrance, and the vagueness is used as a metaphor for the lightness of the fragrance. The use of this synaesthetic technique is accurate and wonderful.

Compared with the above-mentioned colorful metaphors, Zhu Ziqing also has another language style of prose, that is, using plain language to express sincere and deep emotions in simple narratives. This type of works can often express the author's integrity, enthusiasm, and progressive heart. For example, "The Price of Life--Seven Cents" and "White People--The Proud Son of God!" are all representative works of this style, among which they have the greatest influence. The one is "Back View". This essay paints a picture of a father and son's farewell at the station. The article uses plain words to describe the father's action of climbing up the platform, conveying the true love between father and son in the funny and clumsy movements. This prose has washed away his past glory. Through his father's every move, readers seem to see the author's bleak family situation.

Edit this section Introduction to Works

Introduction to Works

Zhu Ziqing worked diligently throughout his life. He has 26 kinds of poems, essays, reviews, and academic research works. About two million words. Most of them were included in the 4-volume "Collected Works of Zhu Ziqing" published by Kaiming Bookstore in 1953. In 1988, Jiangsu Education Press once again comprehensively collected, organized and published 6 volumes of Zhu Ziqing's works. Although Zhu Ziqing began to write new poems after the May 4th Movement, "Qinhuai River in the Sound of Oars and Shadows of Lanterns" published in 1923 showed his talent in prose writing. From then on, he devoted himself to prose creation and made remarkable achievements. The collection of essays "Back" published in 1928 made Zhu Ziqing a famous prose writer at that time.

Zhu Ziqing's prose is mainly narrative and lyrical essays. The themes of his works can be divided into three series: the first is a group of essays whose main content is to write about social life and criticize the dark reality. Representative works include "The Price of Life-Seven Cents" and "Caucasians-The Proud Son of God" and "The Regulatory Massacre." The second is a group of prose represented by "Back View", "Children", "Mourning the Dead Wife" and "Spring", which mainly describe personal and family life, express the human relations between father and son, husband and wife, and friends, and have a strong human touch. Third, a group of lyrical sketches based on natural scenery, such as "Green", "Qinhuai River in the Sound of Oars and Shadows of Lights", and "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond", are his representative works. The latter two types of prose are the most outstanding ones written by Zhu Ziqing, among which "Back View" and "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond" are even more popular. His prose is simple and meticulous, clear, meaningful and melancholy. It is refined with language and is famous for its clear and beautiful writing style, which is full of true feelings.

His scenery prose occupies an important position in the prose creation of modern literature. His use of vernacular to describe scenery is the most charming. For example, in "Green", metaphors, contrasts and other techniques are used to depict the quality and color of Meiyutan Waterfall in a delicate and profound way. The text is deliberately crafted, showing superb skills in controlling language.

His superb writing skills are even more vividly demonstrated in "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond". For example, when describing the beauty of the lotus under the moonlight, the author compares it to a bright pearl, a star in the blue sky, and a beauty out of the bath; when describing the faint fragrance of the lotus, he also uses the words "like a vague fragrance floating from a tall building in the distance." In the sentence "like a singing voice", the singing voice is used as a metaphor for the fragrance, and the vagueness is used as a metaphor for the lightness of the fragrance. The use of this synaesthetic technique is accurate and wonderful.

Zhu Ziqing also has another language style of prose, which uses plain language and expresses sincere and deep feelings in simple narratives. This type of works can often express the author's integrity, enthusiasm and progressive heart. For example, "The Price of Life - Seventy Cents" and "White People - God's Proud Sons!" are all representative works of this style, among which they have the greatest influence. The one is "Back View". This prose has washed away his past glory. Through his father's every move, readers seem to see the author's bleak family situation and his father's deep love for his son. Li Guangtian said in the article "The Most Complete Personality": "The essay "Back" contains less than fifty lines and only one thousand five hundred words... Because this short essay was selected as a Chinese textbook for middle schools, it has a high reputation in the minds of middle school students. "Zhu Ziqing" has become an inseparable part of "Back View". "This is about the situation before liberation.

After liberation, fewer people chose "Back View", while "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond", because of its beautiful writing style, has been selected as a textbook and recited by college and middle school students.

Why are Zhu Ziqing’s prose so highly regarded? Mainly because his prose has the character of truth, kindness and beauty. Authentic means that the content is true and the feelings are sincere. Goodness means that the thoughts and feelings revealed in the work are progressive, and the author's right and wrong, likes and dislikes are consistent with the broad masses of the people. Beauty, of course, includes many aspects, but what is especially unattainable in ordinary prose works is that its language is beautiful and full of charm, as clear and smooth as a stream, and as sweet and chewy as an olive. How does Zhu Ziqing pursue truth, goodness, and beauty in his prose creation? Judging from the content, Zhu Ziqing writes about things he has personally experienced. Not only are big things well-founded, but every detail is also true and accurate. He could not tolerate the slightest untruth in his prose. There is such a thing: there is a sentence in his "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond": "The most lively things at this time are the cicadas on the trees and the frogs in the water." Later, a reader wrote to him and told him, Cicadas don't crow at night. Zhu Ziqing felt that he did hear the sound of cicadas that night, but just to be sure, he asked several people and wrote to an entomologist for advice. As a result, everyone believed that cicadas do not scream at night, but only occasionally. Zhu Ziqing therefore suspected that he had remembered it incorrectly, and planned to delete the sentence about the cicada's cry when the collection of essays "Back View" was republished. But later, he heard the cicada's cry on a moonlit night twice with his own ears, and he believed that he had written correctly, and that most people's understanding of the cicada's cry on a moonlit night was inaccurate. He wrote a special article for this purpose, explaining how difficult it is to observe things. From this incident, we can see how seriously Zhu Ziqing treats the authenticity of his writing content.

The emotional sincerity of Zhu Ziqing's prose is even more well-known. His "Back View", "For the Dead Wife", etc. are known as "the first-class love literature in the world". In the light pen and ink, there is a deep feeling, without any pretense, but with the power to move people's hearts. In his articles such as "On Realism and Picturesqueness", "On Slogans", and "Preface to Zhong Ming's "The Heart-wrenching Lip Record"", he emphasized "truth" and "naturalness", emphasized "rhetoric establishes its sincerity", and emphasized " Both publicity and writing cannot lack...a sincere attitude." It is this "sincere attitude" that makes him pour his true feelings into every word. And this kind of joy, anger, sorrow, and joy revealed from the depths of the soul is more likely to arouse readers' screams.

Edit this collection of works

"Snow Dynasty" (Collection of Poems) 1922 Business

"Traces" (Collection of Poems and Prose) 1924 Yadong Books Museum

"Back View" (Collected Essays) The Enlightenment in 1928

"Miscellaneous Notes on Travels in Europe" (Collected Essays) The Enlightenment in 1934

"You and Me" (Essays Collection) 1936, Business

"London Miscellaneous Notes" (Collection of Essays) 1943, Kaiming

"Chinese Teaching" (Collection of Essays) 1945, Kaiming

"Classic Chang Tan" (collection of essays), 1946, Wenguang

"Shi Yan Zhi Bian" (Poetry Theory), 1947, Kai Ming

"New Poetry Miscellanies" (Poetry "On" (1947), Writer's Bookstore

"Standards and Measures" (collection of essays) 1948, Wenguang

"Chinese Shiling" (collection of essays) 1948, Mingshan Bookstore

"On the Appreciation of Refined and Popular Culture" (Collection of Essays), 1948, Observation Society

"Collected Works of Zhu Ziqing" (Volume 1-4), 1953, Kaiming

"Collected Essays on Zhu Ziqing's Classical Literature" (Volume 1 and 2), 1981, ancient books

"Collected Reviews of Zhu Ziqing's Prefaces and Postscripts" (Collected Essays), 1983, triplex

"Selected Prose by Zhu Ziqing" 1986 , Baihua

"The Complete Works of Zhu Ziqing" (Volume 1-3) 1988, Jiangsu Education (not yet published) --

Collection of Zhu Ziqing's prose:

1 "Hurry"

2 "Singing"

3 "Qinhuai River in the Sound of Oars and Shadows of Lights"

4 "Traces of Wenzhou"

5 "Back View"

6 "Civilization of Ships"

7 "Moonlight over Lotus Pond"

8 "The Woman I Love"