Lao She (Chinese: 老舍; Pinyin: Lǎo Shě, February 3, 1899 – August 24, 1966) was a noted Chinese writer. A novelist and dramatist, he was one of the most significant figures of 20th century Chinese literature, and is perhaps best known for his novel Camel Xiangzi or Rickshaw Boy (骆驼祥子) and the play Teahouse (茶馆). He was of Manchu ethnicity.
He was born Shū Qìngchūn (舒庆春) in Beijing, to a poor family of the Sūmuru clan belonging to the Red Banner. 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 into the Beijing Institute for Education, where he graduated in 1918.
Between 1918 and 1924 he 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 and began his own writing. His later novel 二马 (Ma and Son) drew on these experiences.
In the summer of 1929, he left Britain for Singapore, teaching at the Chinese High School (华侨中学). Between his return to China in the spring of 1930 until 1937, he taught at several universities, including Cheeloo University (齐鲁大学) and Shandong University (Qingdao).
His first important novel, Luotuo Xiangzi (骆驼祥子, "Camel Xiangzi," widely known in the West as "Rickshaw Boy" or "Rickshaw"), was published in 1936. It describes the tragic life of a rickshaw puller in Beijing of the 1920s and is considered to be a classic of modern Chinese literature. The English version Rickshaw Boy became a US bestseller in 1945; it was an unauthorized translation that added a bowdlerized happy ending to the story. In 1982, the original version was made into a film of the same title.
During World War II, Lao She also made noted contributions as a leader of anti-Japanese writers in China. He became the vice chairman of the Union of Writers after 1949. After the establishment of the PRC, his writing fell largely in line with state ideology, whereas before it had been broadly critical and satirical.
Like thousands of other intellectuals in China, he experienced mistreatment in the Cultural Revolution of the mid-1960s. Red Guards of the Cultural Revolution had attacked him as a counterrevolutionary. They paraded him through the streets and beat him in public. Greatly humiliated both mentally and physically, he committed suicide by drowning himself in a Beijing lake in 1966. His relatives were accused of implication in his "crimes" but continued to rescue his manuscripts after his death, hiding them in coal piles and a chimney and moving them from house to house.
His other important works include Si Shi Tong Tang (四世同堂, "Four Generations under One Roof" 1944–1950), a novel describing the life of the Chinese people during the Japanese Occupation; Cat Country (猫城记) a satire which is sometimes seen as the first important Chinese science fiction novel, Cha Guan (茶馆, "Teahouse"), a play written in 1957; and Lao Zhang de Zhexue (老张的哲学, "The Philosophy of Old Zhang"), his first published novel, written in London (1926).
The Laoshe Tea House (老舍茶馆), a popular tourist attraction in Beijing that opened in 1988 and features regular performances of traditional music, is named for Lao She.[1]
He had four children, one son and three daughters.
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