Zheng Zhenduo


Zheng Zhenduo, courtesy name Xidi, was a Chinese journalist, writer, archaeologist and scholar. His pen names were Baofun, Guo Yuanxin and CT.
He made a significant contribution towards the establishment of the Chinese literature and the editing of a variety of literary magazines. In 1921, he, Geng JiZhi, Jiang BoLi, Shen Yanbing and others organized Wenxue Yanjiu Hui. In 1923, he became the chief editor of Fiction Monthly. In addition, he in succession participated in editing Min Chao, Xin Shehui, Wenxue xunkan. In late 1931, he became a professor at both Yenching University and Tsinghua University, the president of Faculty of Arts and the director of Chinese department of Jinan University. He was also the chief editor of Shijie wenku at the same time. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, he was assigned to be head of the Cultural Relic Bureau, Director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and literary research institute, the assistant minister of cultural department, committee member of State Council scientific program committee and Chinese Academy of Science philosophical social sciences, the vice-chairman of Chinese folk literature and art research council, etc. He died in a plane crash in the Soviet Union during his journey in 1958.

Biography

Family

Zheng Zhenduo was born on 19 December 1898 in Yongjia, Zhejiang Province. His ancestral home was in Changle, Fujian province. He was born in a poor family. Together with two younger sisters, he was raised by his mother because his father and grandfather died when he was still a teenager.
He was named "Zhenduo" by his grandfather. "Zhen" denotes arousing an action and "Duo" is a kind of big bell. His grandfather wanted him to ring like a great bell to summon and to arouse people. Besides, his grandfather gave him the childhood name "Mu Guan".

Schooling

In 1917, Zheng began studying at the Beijing Railway Management School and graduated in March 1921. Beyond classroom, he read a lot of books and developed an enormous interest in social sciences, Chinese literature and Western literature and thus developed a critical mind. During the May Fourth Movement, he was a student representative, spreading the news of student movements in Beijing. In 1919, he helped publish two magazines called Xin Shehui and Jiuguo jiangyan zhoukan.
In January 1921, Zheng Zhenduo and twelve others, including Mao Dun and Ye Shengtao founded the earliest literary society of the New Literature Movement, Wenxue yanjiu hui, which advocated realism and opposed art for art's sake.

Careers throughout his life

Zheng had been a journalist, a modern writer, archeology and a literature scholar throughout his life.
In May 1921, Zheng helped set up a drama society called Minzhong Xiju She with Mao Dun, Ye Shengtao, Chen Dabei, Ouyang Yuqian, Xiong Foxi and other writers. They published a monthly magazine named Xiju on 31 May in the same year.
In 1922, Zheng established the first magazine for children, Children's World In January 1923, he became the chief editor of a monthly magazine of novel, Fiction Monthly. After the May 30 Incident in 1925, he helped founding a newspaper called Gongli Ribao. From then on, he wrote many books including Zhongguo Wenxue Shi and 1943 Diary.
Zheng had been a scholar giving lectures in universities, a researcher of the academy and a journalist since 1931. He taught in the Department of Chinese in Yenching University, in Jinan University from 1935 to 1941 as the Dean of faculty of Arts and in Peking University since 1953. After 1949, he became the Secretary for the Culture Department and Cultural Heritage Department in China.

Exile to France

In April 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched a sudden attack on thousands of suspected Communists in the area he controlled. Many innocent students and movement activists were killed. Writers, including Zheng, were under political pressure. Therefore, he left his family for France in May 1927. During the years living in Paris, he kept mailing his diary to his wife, which was published as a book named Ouxing Riji.

Return to China

He continued his journalistic career after coming back to China in 1929 and founded Jiuwang Ribao. In October 1945, he founded a weekly magazine called Democracy to oppose Chiang Kai-shek's pro-US policy and urge people to stop civil wars.

Cultural Preservation

Due to the invasion of Japanese troops, Shanghai was besieged starting from 1937 and many significant cultural assets were lost. In the light of this, Zheng devoted himself to the rescue and protection of aged Chinese documents and antiques. Chen was a founding member of the Shanghai "Rare Book Preservation Society" and its leader. Disguising himself as a staff member in a stationery store, named Chan Sixun, he managed to save many aged books from damage or loss to the outside world.

Death

On 17 October 1958, Zheng led national cultural delegates to visit Arabia and Afghanistan. He died in the crash of a Tupolev Tu-104 in Kanash, Chuvashia, Soviet Union during the journey.

Journalism

Zheng started his journalistic career in the 1920s during the May Fourth Movement. Together with some classmates including Zhong Tao, he got a first taste of editing in starting a publication named Jiuguo Jiangyan Zhoukan. The magazine - being published in Wenzhou for only 6 to 7 times - was closed by the authorities since it enraged a government official.
As one of the founders of a youth magazine, Xin Shehui, Zheng aimed at criticizing the Beijing government. It began its publication on 1 November 1919, which consisted of four pages. The aims of the magazine was to:
  1. advocate the social service
  2. discuss society problems
  3. introduce social theories
  4. research on common people education
  5. record society matters
  6. criticize society shortcomings
  7. narrate society real states
  8. report news of the organization
Zheng gave many speeches about the student movement in Beijing. On top of criticizing, he wanted to make good use of the New Culture Movement to publicize and promote new social ideals for the Chinese future development. Chen Duxiu suggested that Xin Shehui could be edited with a more approachable style accepted by the general public. The magazine was finally published on 1 November 1919 throughout China, arousing tides of attention from the public, especially amongst the young readers. However, as Zheng and his co-editors were still inexperienced in editing by that time, the magazine was thought to be immature in editing and too sloganeered. On the hand, the content of the magazine upset the military side of the government. Thus, in one month's time, the government called the publication to a halt.
In addition, he established Wenxue Yanjiu Hui with Mao Dun and Ye Shengtao in November 1920. In January 1923, he took over the position of chief editor of Fiction Monthly from Mao Dun. He was the chief editor on and off for nearly 9 years. He advocated a literary advocacy of "Blood and Tears" and supported a writing style of realism.
In June 1925, he founded a newspaper called Kongli Ribao with Wu Yuzhi and Ye Shengtao in Shanghai. This newspaper was aimed at criticizing the "May Thirtieth Incident" and the rising foreign imperialism in China.
Also, he contributed in various newspapers like Jiuguo Jiangyan Zhoubao and Xinxue Bao to awaken Chinese people from old traditions. These articles were mainly about social issues and the evil deeds of the old traditional practices. Zheng wrote articles from different aspects like the liberation of women, morality, social psychology and the liberation of political power. They all advocated more people to rethink the old values position.

Contribution to literature

Translation

Zheng was proficient in foreign languages including English, Russian, Indian languages, Greek and Latin. He did a great job in translating a lot of Russian and Indian literature.
Zheng had started translation of Russian literature since early 20s. His works included the works, paper and preface of Turgenev, Gogol, Chekov, Gorky and Tolstoy.
Zheng also translated many Indian literature. He mainly translated the poems as well as the Indian ancient-times fable such as Rabindranath Tagore. Zheng had translated a prominent number of Tagore's poems to Chinese since the 1920s. In October 1922, he published his translation of Stray Birds. In August 1925, he published The Indian Fable. There were 55 translation works of his in total.
Zheng started his study in Greek and Roman literature in his early age. In 1929, he published The Story of Love. Afterwards he translated The Hero Legends of Greek and Roman Myth Legends. Then in 1935, he published a book called The Legends of Greece, which was three to four times thicker than his previous one. After liberation, in the second edition of The Legends of Greece, he introduced Karl Marx's well-known discourse in The Introductory of political and economical criticism which was about ancient times mythology to analyze Greek mythology.

Literature Union

As the previous newspapers and magazines were banned by the government, Zheng believed that a proper established literature union would make things run easier. In January 1921, he established Wenxue Yanjiu Hui, which literally means literature research union, with Mao Dun, Ye Shengtao and 12 other people in the related field.
The Union's first publication was Wenxue Xunkan. It was published along with the well known newspaper called Shishi Xinbao. He revealed the goal of the publication and the literature views of the union. He believed that literature is important and capable to influence the society. It was not merely an era, a place or one's reflection, but it acted as a frontier, which could affect the morality of human beings. Also, he strongly opposed to the old style of Chinese literature, of setting leisure and religions as main themes. He supported the writing of life – one theme in new realism literature approach.
He also expressed his view on the development of Chinese literature. As the connection between the Chinese literature and the world's literature was far too little, the Chinese lofty spirit could not be shared by the rest of the world. He treated that as the Chinese's biggest humiliation. Therefore, he was so devoted in the field of literature, eagered to strive for a higher position of the Chinese literature in the world. Under the influence of the May Fourth Movement, he thought that the major responstility of the Chinese Literature was to inspire youngsters' revolutionary mission in order to strengthen the power of China.

Realism

Within the May Fourth movement, he adhered the direction of realism for New literature era. He thought literature liked 'mirror of a life'. This means his writing mostly revealed the real faces of societies. Also, he put a lot of emphasis on the importance of creative living. During his long composing and researching career, he showed a fully comprehensive realism of literature. He thought that literature must contribute to "life":
Literature should consist of the highest ideal of the author, which form the soul of the article, in order to make it meaningful to the readers and the whole of society.

Classical literature

Starting from the late 1920s, Zheng was teaching Chinese literature History in universities. At that time, he did much in making research in Chinese classical writing. For example, he used his pen name, Bao Fun, to write Yuenqu Xulu in the Novel Monthly. Also, he finished editing The History of the Chinese Literature in 1930.

Romanticism

Zheng put heavy emphasis on emotional elements in literature, highlighting its importance in distinguishing between literature and science. He advocated that literature functions to instill a passion in the readers' heart. One example was the historical novel, Arrest of the fire stealer.

Works

Academic

He wrote more than 20 prose texts and the following are some of the examples: