Shen Congwen
| Shen Congwen | |
|---|---|
Shen Congwen with wife Zhang Zhaohe
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| Born |
28 December 1902 Fenghuang, Hunan, Qing dynasty |
| Died | 10 May 1988 (aged 85) Beijing |
| Spouse(s) | Zhang Zhaohe (1910-2003) |
| Shen Congwen | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 沈從文 | ||||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 沈从文 | ||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Shěn Cóngwén |
| Wade–Giles | Shen Ts'ung-wen |
Shen Congwen (December 28, 1902 – May 10, 1988), formerly romanized as Shen Ts'ung-wen, is considered to be one of the greatest modern Chinese writers, on par with Lu Xun. Regional culture and identity plays a much bigger role in his writing than that of other major early modern Chinese writers. He was known for combining the vernacular style with classical Chinese writing techniques. Shen is the most important of the "native soil" writers in modern Chinese literature.
He was slated to win the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature, but died before he could be awarded the prize.
It is possible to visit his former residence in Fenghuang county, Hunan province.
He was born Shen Yuehuan (沈岳煥) on December 28, 1902 in the town of Fenghuang (then known as Zhen'gan) in west Hunan Province. In late adolescence he chose the name Shen Congwen. He was the fourth of nine children born to Shen Zongsi, a Han-Miao, and Huang Suying, a Tujia. His grandfather, Shen Hongfu, was a local hero who became a decorated general before being named acting commander-in-chief of Guizhou province at the age of 25. Due in large part to his grandfather's fame and fortune, Shen Congwen was born into a relatively well-off household. Following the founding of the Republic of China in 1912, his father hoped to become elected to the provincial assembly, but was instead forced to go into hiding in Inner Mongolia after joining a failed plot to assassinate President Yuan Shikai. The fact of Shen's mother's Tujia ethnicity and his paternal grandmother's Miao ethnicity, he keep secret until the 1980s.
Owing to his father's sudden disappearance, the family fortunes gradually diminished. Most of their land was sold off, and in 1917, after graduating from primary school, Shen Congwen was made to leave home. He joined a local reserve militia before joining the regiment in Yuanling (then known as Chenzhou) working as a clerk.
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Wikipedia