1899–1966
✕ Died after persecution
Author of Rickshaw Boy and Teahouse, who died in “Red August”
Born Shu Qingchun in 1899 to a poor Manchu bannerman family in Beijing, he became a writer under the influence of the May Fourth Movement and wrote his first novel while teaching at the School of Oriental Studies in London in 1924–1929. Back in China he taught at universities and in novels such as Rickshaw Boy portrayed the lives of ordinary Beijingers in vivid Beijing speech. In 1938 he led the All-China Resistance Association of Writers and Artists; after staying in the United States from 1946 to 1949 he returned to the People’s Republic and wrote plays including Teahouse. Branded a counter-revolutionary, he was beaten by Red Guards in front of the Confucius Temple on 23 August 1966 and died in Taiping Lake the next day. The official record says he drowned himself, but murder has also been suggested.
Also known as: Shu Qingchun
Activities and affiliations
- –1966
Career Timeline
- 1899Born in Beijing
- 1924–1929Lecturer at the School of Oriental Studies, London; first novel
- 1930Returned; taught at Cheeloo and Shandong universities
- 1937Rickshaw Boy published as a book
- 1938Led the All-China Resistance Association of Writers and Artists
- 1946–1949In the United States
- 1957The play Teahouse
- 1966Died after a Red Guard beating