Lao She

Lao She
Born	Shu Qingchun (1899-02-03)February 3, 1899 Beijing, Qing Dynasty
Died	August 24, 1966(1966-08-24) (aged 67) Taiping Lake, Beijing
Pen name	Lao She
Occupation	Novelist, dramatist
Language	Chinese
Ethnicity	Manchu
Alma mater	Beijing Normal University
Notable works	Rickshaw Boy Teahouse
Spouse	Hu Jieqing
Children	4

Lao She
"Lao She" in Chinese characters
Chinese	老舍
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lǎo Shě Wade–Giles Lao3 She3 IPA [làu ʂɤ̀] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Lóuh Sé Jyutping Lou5 Se2 Southern Min Tâi-lô Ló Sià
Birth name
Traditional Chinese	舒慶春
Simplified Chinese	舒庆春
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Shū Qìngchūn

Lao She (Chinese: 老舍; born Shu Qingchun; 3 February 1899 – 24 August 1966) was a Chinese novelist and dramatist. He was one of the most significant figures of 20th-century Chinese literature, and best known for his novel Rickshaw Boy and the play Teahouse (茶館). He was of Manchu ethnicity, and his works are known especially for their vivid use of the Beijing dialect.

Lao She was born Shu Qingchun (舒慶春) on 3 February 1899 in Beijing, to a poor Manchu family of the Sumuru clan belonging to the Red Banner. His father, who was a guard soldier, died in a street battle with the Eight-Power Allied Forces in the course of the Boxer Rebellion events in 1901. "During my childhood," Lao She later recalled, "I didn't need to hear stories about evil ogres eating children and so forth; the foreign devils my mother told me about were more barbaric and cruel than any fairy tale ogre with a huge mouth and great fangs. And fairy tales are only fairy tales, whereas my mother's stories were 100 percent factual, and they directly affected our whole family.". In 1913, he was admitted to the Beijing Normal Third High School (currently Beijing Third High School), but had to leave after several months because of financial difficulties. In the same year, he was accepted to Beijing Normal University and graduated in 1918.

Between 1918 and 1924, Lao She was involved as administrator and faculty member at a number of primary and secondary schools in Beijing and Tianjin. He was highly influenced by the May Fourth Movement (1919). He stated, "[The] May Fourth [Movement] gave me a new spirit and a new literary language. I am grateful to [The] May Fourth [Movement], as it allowed me to become a writer."

He went on to serve as lecturer in the Chinese section of the (then) School of Oriental Studies (now the School of Oriental and African Studies) at the University of London from 1924 to 1929. During his time in London, he absorbed a great deal of English literature (especially Dickens, whom he adored) and began his own writing. His later novel 二马 (Mr Ma and Son) drew on these experiences.