Family of Centuries -- Xu Zhimo

Author: Fang Hui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Xu Zhimo (1897—1931), modern poet and essayist. His given name was Zhang Xu, and his pen names included Nanhu and Yunzhonghe. He was born in Xianshi Town, Haining County, Zhejiang Province. In 1915, he graduated from Hangzhou No.1 High School and married Zhang Youyi. Later, he studied at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tianjin Beiyang University, and Peking University. In 1918, he funded his own studies in banking in the United States. In 1919, he graduated from Clark University and received a master's degree from Columbia University in 1920. That same year, he met Lin Huiyin and her daughter. In 1921, he went to London, England, for studies, enrolling as a special student at the University of Cambridge to study political economy. During his two years at Cambridge, he was deeply influenced by Western education, as well as by the romanticism and aestheticism of Western poets, and began writing new poetry. In March 1922, he divorced his wife Zhang Youyi, and in August, he left Cambridge and returned to China. In 1924, he participated in founding the Crescent Society. When the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore visited China, Xu Zhimo served as his translator and was appointed as a professor at Peking University. During the activities of the Crescent Society, he met Lu Xiaoman and began a passionate romance. In 1925, he traveled to Europe, visiting countries such as Russia, Germany, Italy, and France, and wrote the poem "A Night in." In August, upon returning to China, he published his first poetry collection, Poems of Xu Zhimo. In 1926, he edited the literary supplement Poetry Snippet for the Morning News and published his first prose collection, Falling Leaves. In 1927, he participated in founding the Crescent Bookstore. In 1928, he launched the monthly journal The Crescent. In early 1931, he co-founded the quarterly journal Poetry Magazine with Chen Mengjia and others. On November 19 of the same year, he boarded a plane from Nanjing to Beijing and crashed into a mountain near Jinan, killing himself. His works include poetry collections such as Poems of Xu Zhimo, A Night in, The Tiger Collection, and Cloud Journey, prose collections such as Falling Leaves, Fragments of Paris, Self-Analysis, and Autumn, the novel-prose collection The Wheel, the play Bian Kungang (co-written with Lu Xiaoman), diaries such as Notes on Love with Mei and Diary of Xu Zhimo, and translations such as The Short Stories of Arthur Symons. This book attempts to interpret Xu Zhimo's thoughts and emotional activities from the perspective of his family and in close connection with the specific era, presenting a novel and unique approach. At the same time, it strives to be "supported by evidence" while drawing on the strengths of others, blending authenticity with readability.