Lao She's witty sayings

Author: Liu Weimin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-06-01
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Lao She (1899—1966) was a Chinese novelist and playwright. His original name was Shu Qingchun, and he changed his name to Shu Sheyu in his youth, with "Lao She" becoming his primary pen name. Lao She was born on February 3, 1899, in Beijing and belonged to the Manchu ethnicity. His father, Shu Yongshou, died in the of the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of Beijing in 1900. His family lived in extreme poverty. Lao She was strong-willed and self-respecting from a young age, diligent in his studies, and graduated from Beijing Normal School in 1918. Due to his outstanding academic performance and character, he was appointed as the principal of the Imperial Public No. 17 Higher Primary School (the predecessor of Fangjia Hutong Primary School). From then on, he began his nearly 20-year teaching career, starting from primary school and progressing to middle school and university.
From 1924 to 1929, Lao She accepted a position as a Chinese language teacher at the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, and began writing novels in his spare time. His long novels The Philosophy of Lao Zhang, Zhao Ziyu, and The Two Horses were all written in London and published in The Monthly Review of Fiction, edited by Zheng Zhenduo, and later released as standalone books by the Commercial Press. In 1930, Lao She returned to Beijing via Singapore and Shanghai. That summer, he was appointed as a professor at the College of Arts, Qi Lu University in Jinan. In the summer of 1934, he moved to Qingdao and accepted a position as a professor at Shandong University. In the summer of 1936, he resigned from his teaching positions to focus solely on writing. The six or seven years Lao She spent in Jinan and Qingdao were a productive period in his literary career, during which he produced numerous masterpieces, including the novels The Cat City, Divorce, The Biography of Niu Tianxi, Rickshaw Boy, The Moonlight on the Crescent, and My Whole Life, as well as many short and medium-length stories.
After the "Lugou Bridge Incident" in 1937, Lao She traveled alone from Jinan to Wuhan and joined the patriotic movement to resist the war. On March 27, 1938, the Chinese Writers' and Artists' Association for Resisting Japanese Aggression (briefly referred to as "Wen Xie") was established in Wuhan, and Lao She was elected as one of its executive committee members, serving as the director of the General Affairs Department, effectively becoming the leader of the association. Over the seven years he led "Wen Xie" in Wuhan and Chongqing, Lao She tirelessly worked to unite writers and artists, demonstrating profound patriotic devotion.
In March 1946, Lao She and Cao Yu were invited by the U.S. State Department to lecture and write in the United States. There, he completed his million-word long novel Four Generations Under One Roof in the U.S.
On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was established. Lao She, in the United States, received a letter from Zhou Enlai inviting him to return to China to write. Despite his illness, he immediately packed his bags and returned to his hometown, Beijing, on December 12, 1949. After his return, Lao She held numerous positions, including member of the Cultural and Educational Committee of the State Council, representative to the National People's Congress of China, standing committee member of the National Political Consultative Conference of China, member of the Beijing Municipal People's Government, vice president of the Chinese Writers' Federation, vice president of the Chinese Writers' Association and secretary of its secretariat, vice president of the Chinese Folk Literature Research Association, council member of the Chinese Theatre Association, council member of the Chinese Quyi Workers' Association, president of the Beijing Writers' Federation, and vice president of the China-North Korea Friendship Association. He also made multiple visits to countries such as North Korea, the Soviet Union, India, Czechoslovakia, and Japan as a representative of Chinese writers.
On August 24, 1966, shortly after the Cultural Revolution began, Lao She could no longer endure the humiliation and committed suicide by drowning in Beiping Lake to protest the impending national disaster.
Lao She's representative works in drama include the multi-act plays The Dense Fog (1939), Zhang Zichong (1941), The Face Problem (1941), The Dragon and Snake of the Earth (1941), Come Back and Go (1942), and Who Arrived in Chongqing First (1943). He co-wrote The Nation Above All (1940) with Song Zhi, and collaborated with Xiao Yiwu and Zhao Qingge on King Tiger (1943, also known as Roaring Tiger) and Peach Blossoms and Spring Breeze (1943, also known as Golden Voice and Jade Resonance). This was a productive period in Lao She's dramatic writing.
From 1949, when Lao She returned to China, until his death, the 17 years were another productive period in his dramatic writing. Over this time, he published and released more than 20 plays, including Fang Pearl (1950), Dragon Tail Canal (1950), A Family Representative (1951), Birthday (1952), Spring Blossoms and Autumn Fruit (1953), Youth Shock Troops (1955), Westward to Chang'an (1956), Teahouse (1957), Red Compound (1958), Female Shop Assistant (1959), Family Fortune (1959), Treasure Ship (1961), Boxer (1961, also known as The Boxers), and Lotus Pearl Match (1961, adapted from a Sichuan opera of the same name), as well as the opera scripts Willow Well (1952), The Fifteen Pieces of Gold (1956, adapted from a Kunqu opera of the same name), Green Frost and Red Snow (1959), and Wang Baochan (1964, adapted from a traditional opera of the same name).
Overall, the plays from this period were more mature than those he wrote during the War of Resistance against Japan. Inspired by the new era and new life, Lao She continuously created and explored, giving this period's works a nearly entirely new look while also encountering new challenges. Especially Dragon Tail Canal and Teahouse, which became exemplary works in the drama of the New China and earned international acclaim for Chinese drama.