Han Han

Han Han Modern Writer and Artist

Click [1] for original source

Mattstrock 17:44, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Life of Han Han

Ling Shuhua was born in Panyu Beijing in the year 1900. She was the daughter of the fourth wife of a high ranking Qing official from the southern province of Canton who later served as the mayor of Beijing. She grew up in luxury, being the daughter of an official, in a very large but traditional compound in the city. Panyu remained consistent as birthplace, but Ling Shuhua and her sister changed their dates of birth on multiple occasions. Most of Shuhua's life she claimed to be the fourth child born in 1904. Shuhua even once attempted a literary usurpation of her sister's position as the family's youngest child. It wasn't until shortly before her death in 1990 when she admitted that her birth year was 1900. This original uncertainty might seem an accident of life before birth certificates; however, these manipulations of age can be recognized as a strategy of control over the presentation of their lives. They became adept at this trick of flexibility and used it to their own advantage. Shuhua was well educated in classical letters. She also studied painting and became a very traditional stylistic painter. Shuhua spoke Cantonese at home, Mandarin outside, and later English and Japanese at school. In 1922 she enrolled, along with fellow female writer Bing Xin, in Yanjing University to pursue a degree in foreign literature. While at the university Shuhua began to write short stories in Chinese vernacular rather than classical Chinese. This decision to write in the vernacular caused a rift with her father. Unfortunately little is known about what came of it. Soon after graduating, she married Chen Yuan, the founder of the important May Fourth Movement. One can denote by this fact that she was heavily involved in politics. This wasn't necessarily the case at first however, she did criticize the role of the traditional female but it wasn't until her marriage to Yuan that she became more involved in politics. In 1927, the couple moved to Hunan so that Yuan could teach at Wuhan University. Through contacts she made with other writers in the same literature department at Wuhan University, Shuhua was able to start a correspondence with Virginia Woolf. She continued her correspondence with writer Virginia Woolf from 1938 until 1941. Woolf was instrumental in Shuhua's writing of her autobiography as it was written in English. Woolf was sent manuscripts throughout their three year correspondence to edit and give her opinion. Ling Shuhua and Chen Yuan lived in London various times, Singapore (1954-60), and many different cities in China including Beijing. Chen Yuan died in 1970 while living in London. Shuhua remained a while but later moved to the United States. Shuhua towards the end of her life and while living in the United States decided she wanted to spend the rest of her life in her motherland. She soon moved to Beijing where she peacefully died in 1990. (Click [4] for original source)

File:Han Han.jpg

Click [2] for original source]

• This particular source may be unreliable as much of their information contradicts some works that are more trustworthy.

According to [5] Ling Shuhua, as campus wife at Wuhan, was active in writing short stories and editing a journal called Wuhan Wenyi. Yuan then is appointed to UNESCO. They leave for London where Shuhua becomes involved with literary types like Sackville-West and Andre Maurois Yuan Later became the visiting professor of Chinese at Nanyang University in Singapore (1954-60) In the 1990s, Hong Ying wrote a novel, translated into English as K-The Art of Love, allegedly based on the life of Ling Shuhua and an illicit affair she had with Julian Bell, nephew of Virginia Woolf; Ling Shuhua's daughter sued Hong in what became a highly publicized case in China.

• This particular source may be unreliable as much of their information contradicts some works that are more trustworthy.

Motivations

Ling Shuhua vividly described the traditional female and the contrast of the modern female. She payed attention to the feminist consciousness and in her writing attempted to obtain the introspection and reflection of the female consciousness itself. She criticized and exposed the deep traditional female consciousness in order to have a new perspective and reflection of the nature of women's liberation and the liberation of personality; thus making her works have deeper historical sense and cultural implication. Growing up the daughter of the fourth wife (out of six) of an official she was well aware of the traditional view on women. Although she lived in relative luxury she acknowledged the expectations of the female in her society. Through her writing she sought to change that perspective or at least raise awareness. Although she wrote with a modern emphasis she was a passionate artist and ironically chose to paint in the more traditional style.

Controversy

• Ling Shuhua was the daughter of a high official (Ling Fupeng) and married a man (Chen Yuan) that was heavily involved in the May Fourth movement or the New Culture Movement. As such, she herself was active in protesting the imperialist China along with the traditional cultural aspects that resulted. She wrote primarily on the traditional feminine role in China and the shortfalls of the traditional Chinese culture. She was very articulate in her writings so not to be explicit with her protest, rather she drew depictions of the contrasts of modern and traditional female roles through her characters and their stories to inspire change.

• One of the biggest controversies surrounding the life of Ling Shuhua is the accuracy and authenticity of events in her life. From the very beginning she lied about her age, only acknowledging the truth a few years before her death. She lied about her family tree in her own auto-biography. Many stories recounted in her auto-biography were said to be fabricated, fictitious, and contrived be her own sister. Because of this inconsistency many sources have contradicting information regarding her life. As such, it is difficult to establish what her life truly consisted of. One source, for example, claims that "during the New Culture movement she was... not sympathetic to the aims of the movement; actually scorned the baihua poetry of Hu Shi and Bing Xin" [6] Another, more reliable source, says almost the complete opposite: that she was not only a good friend of Bing Xin but she was fully supportive of the New Culture Movement alongside her husband. This makes sense since her husband apparently was one of the founders of the May Fourth Movement (New Culture Movement). But the fact remains that the life of Ling Shuhua is somewhat clouded. Some may speculate that her life is shrouded as it is because of her father's official status. In other words, because of her father's rank and her implicit protest of traditional China, one can understand why some details of her life may be clouded so to "save face" for her father. Again, this is pure conjecture but the implications are surely present.

Ling Fupeng with two daughters and another couple. Click [3] for original source]

Legacy

Ling Shuhua wrote three compilations of short stories (Temple of Flowers (1928), Women (1930), and Two Little Brothers (1935)) as well as a autobiography in English (Ancient Melodies (1953)).

English-language publications by Ling Shuhua

• 1956 - “Orchids and Bamboo” Translated by Ling Su-hua. Oriental Art 2 (4): 57. Ling Shuhua (Chen, Su Hua Ling). 1950a. “The Red Coat Man.” The Spectator, no. 6387 (November 24): 540-41.
• 1950 - “Childhood in China” The Spectator, no. 6391 (December 22): 724.
• 1951 - “Our Old Gardener” Country Life, no. 2822 (February16): 466-67.
• 1951 - “Happy Days in Kiating” Country Life, no. 2857 (October 19): 1304-5.
• 1952 - “Visit to a Royal Gardener” Country Life, no. 2884 (April 25): 1242-43.
• 1953 - “Ancient Melodies”
• 1953 - “Rock Carvings 1,800 Years Old” Country Life, no. 2936 (April 23): 1236-38.
• 1956 - “Chinese Woodcuts of Three Centuries” Country Life, no. 3084 (February 23): 332-33.
• 1969 - "Ancient Melodies" 2d ed. London: The Hogarth Press.
• 1988 - "Ancient Melodies" Reprint. New York: Universal Books.

Chinese-language publications by Ling Shuhua

• 1928 - "Temple of flowers" Ling Shuhua. Hua zhi si . Shanghai: Xin yue shudian.
• 1930 - "Women" Nüren, Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan.
• 1935 - "Little Brothers" Xiao ge’er lia. Shanghai: Liangyou tushu gongsi.
• 1986 - "The collected fiction of Ling Shuhua" Ling Shuhua xiaoshuo ji . 2 vols. Taibei: Hongfan shudian.
• 1994 - "Ancient melodies" Gu yun, translated from the English by Fu Guangming. Beijing: Zhongguo huaqiao chubanshe.
• 1995 - "Essays by Ling Shuhua and Chen Xiying" Ling Shuhua Chen Xiying sanwen, edited by Liu Hong and Xia Xiaofei. Beijing: Zhongguo guangbo dianshi chubanshe.
• 1997 - "Chinese modern literature museum" Ling Shuhua, edited by Zhongguo xiandai wenxueguan. Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe.
• 1998 - "Dreams from a mountain lover’s studio" Aishanlu mengying. Beijing: Yanshan chubanshe.
• 1998 - "Collected writings of Ling Shuhua" Ling Shuhua wencun, edited by Chen Xueyong. 2 vols. Chengdu: Sichuan wenxue chubanshe.

Sources

• Lau, S.M. Joseph, and Goldblatt, Howard. The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature 2nd Edition. Columbia University Press. New York. Print
• D., Amy, and Kristina M. Writing women in modern China: an anthology of women's literature from the early twentieth century. Columbia Univ Pr, 1998. 177. Print.
• [7]

Looks really good to me, I also like your perfect photo source and license indication. Things which you may improve next time: A little bit longer, especially more valuing comments You have indicate the sources in the text, at least one per paragraph, but don't just refer to Wikipedia or the summary I gave you as a link. It is better to use the paper sources and indicate the page numbers.