50 words of information about Xu Dishan’s birth, death, life experience, and works

Life

Xu Dishan was born on February 3, 1894 (December 28, the 19th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty) in his family's manor Peeping Garden (known as Peeping Garden) near the Prince's Temple in Yanping County, Fucheng, Tainan. Magong Temple Xucuo), whose baby name is Shu Chou and Chou Guan, and his mother is Wu Shen. His father, Xu Nanying, was a Taiwanese Jinshi of the Qing Empire. He helped Liu Yongfu perpetuate the Taiwan Democratic Republic in Tainan. His ancestor, Xu Chao, lived in Chikan, under Dutch rule, to teach in the third year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1524).

In late 1895 and early 1896, when Xu Dishan was three years old (about 18 months old), he fled with his mother, uncle, aunt and more than 20 family members by boat from Anping Port to Chaoshan, where they lived in Shantou Pu (now Guangdong). The Xu Family Ancestral Hall in Taodu, Lian Street, Jinping District, Shantou Prefecture-level City, was opened by Mr. Wu Xiantang in Pudong in 1896.

After the defeat of the Taiwan Democratic Republic, my father Xu Nanying traveled from Anping to Shantou via Xiamen to rely on relatives, and went to Southeast Asia for development in Siam, Singapore and other places. Later, he settled in Longxi, Zhangzhou, Fujian and worked in Guangdong. After his father returned to Guangdong from Nanyang, Xu Dishan moved to Fucheng, Guangzhou with his family. He studied in Guangzhou for many years and learned Cantonese, Cantonese opera, Cantonese opera, and pipa.

Xu Dishan's mother tongue is Taiwanese. He received traditional Chinese education in a study since he was a child. He attended a new school in Guangzhou and can speak fluent Cantonese, Zhangzhou dialect, Mandarin and English.

After the Revolution of 1911, Xu Nanying went to southern Fujian to do administrative work. Xu Dishan taught in primary schools, middle schools, and normal schools in Zhangzhou. His first teaching position was in Longhai, and he also went to Yangon, Myanmar. Taught in overseas Chinese school.

In 1912, Xu Dishan followed his father to visit relatives in Taiwan during the Japanese occupation for the first time. In 1915, he was engaged to Lin Yuesen, a girl from the Lin family in Wufeng, Taichung. Lin Yuesen lived in Zhangzhou. They married in 1918 and gave birth to a daughter, Xu Maoxin. In 1920, his wife Lin Yuesen died of illness.

In 1917, Xu Dishan entered the School of Liberal Arts and Religion of Yenching University. After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in 1920, he stayed at the school to teach. He served as a teaching assistant for several professors, including Zhou Zuoren, and also studied theology at Yenching University Theological Seminary. In January 1921, Xu Dishan, Shen Yanbing, Ye Shengtao, Zheng Zhenduo and other 12 people initiated the establishment of a literary research association in Beijing and founded the "Novel Monthly".

In 1922, Xu Dishan went to Columbia University in the United States to study the history of religion and comparative religion. In 1924, he obtained a Master of Arts, M.A. degree and transferred to Oxford University in the United Kingdom to study religious history, Indology, Sanskrit, etc., as well as Buddhism. Acquired French, German, Greek, Latin and Sanskrit.

In 1926, he obtained a Bachelor of Letters, B.Litt from Oxford University. This Oxford degree is equivalent to a Master of Arts degree in Taiwan, but the academic requirements are higher than that of an ordinary Master of Arts. ) is high, and many graduate students studying for this degree already have a master's degree in literature;

Qian Zhongshu was also awarded a B.Litt. degree at Oxford and went to India to study Indology after leaving the UK (while in London. , suggested that Lao She send his novel "Lao Zhang's Philosophy" back to China for publication and serialized it in "Novel Monthly")

In 1927, he returned to China and became a professor at Yenching University, and taught part-time at Peking University and Tsinghua University in 1929. On May 1, he fell in love with Zhou Qisong and got married. In 1931, his son Zhou Lingzhong was born. In 1932, his daughter Xu Yanji was born. In 1933, he and his wife went to Taipei Imperial University for an academic visit and met Japanese sinologist Kiichiro Kanda. During the exchange of professors, his elder brother Wu Shouli served as a Japanese translator, and returned to Tainan to meet with Xu Bingding and other cultural figures.

In 1935, he was invited by the then Governor of Hong Kong and sinologist Grant-Hung to serve as the director of the Chinese Department of the University of Hong Kong. The education reform gave the Chinese Department, which had been dominated by the former Qingge elders, a new look. From then on, he lived at No. 125 Robinson Road, Mid-Levels, British Hong Kong Island until his death on August 4, 1941. , was buried in the Pok Fu Lam Road Cemetery of the Hong Kong Chinese Christian Association.

The number is 2615, Section A, Level 3, Section 11A. The design of the tombstone is ordinary and simple, with only the words "Tomb of Professor Xu Gongdishan of the University of Hong Kong" written on it. ", and the date of his life, and the lower part is his children.

Works

The literary works created by Xu Dishan throughout his life are mostly set in Taiwan, Fujian, Guangdong, Southeast Asia, and India

The main works include "Spiritual Rain in the Sky Mountain", "Spiders Weaving a Web", "A Barrel Falling from a Dangerous Nest", "History of Taoism", "Collection of Da Zhong", "Indian Literature" (1930), "The Bird of Life", "The Liberator", etc.

His translated works include "Bengali Folktales" (1928), "Twenty Night Questions", "The Descendant of the Sun" (1934), "One Hundred World Famous Songs" Volume 1, etc. .

The speeches include "Religious Views on Women", "Women's Clothing", "Heroes Create Times and Times Make Heroes", etc.

The prose "Falling Peanuts" titled under his pen name was selected into Taiwan's middle school Chinese textbooks and in 1980 Hong Kong's junior high school Chinese language subjects.

Extended information:

Character achievements

Xu Dishan once translated "Gitanjali", "On the Way to Calcutta" and "Master, take my Pipa" ” and other poems, novels and essays by Rabindranath Tagore. In 1928, he translated "Bengali Folktales". In 1930, he published the monograph "Indian Literature". In 1934, he also translated the Indian stories "Sunset" and "Twenty Night Questions", thus becoming a famous Indian literary figure. expert.

After several years of hard work, Xu Dishan’s efforts for Sino-Indian cultural exchanges have yielded fruitful results. In the few years after Xu Dishan returned from studying in the UK (from 1927 to 1935 when he left Yenching University), he wrote 8 academic papers and 5 academic treatises. Among them, "Indian Literature" published in 1930 was the first monograph on the history of Indian literature written by the Chinese themselves.

In the early 1930s, Ke Zhenghe of the Chinese Music Society in Peking edited the "Collection of One Hundred World Famous Songs", which was divided into ten volumes with ten songs in each volume, including the ten songs in the first volume. The lyrics are all translated by Xu Dishan. There is a "Foreword" written by Xu Dishan and a "Preface" written by Ke Zhenghe at the front of the book. There is an explanation of the lyrics written by Xu Dishan at the back of the book. He is good at pipa and can compose music and lyrics. At the same time, Xu Dishan is proficient in music and is familiar with Western music and Western folk songs.

Xu Dishan is one of the representatives of problem novels in the 1920s. His creations show a unique and unique interest that is different from other famous problem novels such as Ye Shaojun, Bing Xin, Wang Tongzhao, Lu Yin and others.

Evaluation

After Xu Dishan's death, Chen Yinke wrote an elegiac couplet about Xu's academic life in Hong Kong and their interactions:

Personnel affairs are extremely tiring, and high-occupancy and banquets invite guests. Xiao Temple belongs to literature, and the mind is dark and unknowing;

The separation and chaos rely on each other, the charming daughter lives in the veranda, the sick wife asks for medicine, and the memories of the years are doubly sad.

"On Mr. Xu Dishan's Study of Religious History" highly praises Xu's research on religious history: "Yin Ke briefly governed Buddhism and Taoism in the past, but he only used Taoism to supplement historical events. To prove it, in Buddhism, we can only compare the similarities and differences between the original text and the translations, and we can’t say anything about its subtle meaning.

Later, I read Mr. Dishan’s treatise on the history of Buddhism and Taoism, about the doctrine. The main body has profound comments. After being convinced, I feel ashamed, so I give up my old skills and dare not talk about this matter again."

On August 17, 1941, Lao She wrote in Ta Kung Pao, "Weeping for Xu Dishan." "An article reflects on the past. The article writes about Xu Dishan, "He is knowledgeable but has no airs. He loves to tell jokes, and there are elegant people in the village...".

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Xu Dishan