Ru Zhijuan

Ru Zhijuan (Wade–Giles: Ju Chih-chüan, 30 October 1925 – 7 October 1998) was a Chinese writer best known for her short stories.[1] Ru was one of the most important writers of her generation.[2]

Ru Zhijuan
Born(1925-10-30)October 30, 1925
Shanghai, Republic of China
DiedOctober 7, 1998(1998-10-07) (aged 72)
Shanghai, People's Republic of China
LanguageChinese
Notable works"Lilies" (1958)
SpouseWang Xiaoping (王啸平)
Children3, including Wang Anyi
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese茹志鵑
Simplified Chinese茹志鹃
In this Chinese name, the family name is Ru.

Her second daughter Wang Anyi is also a famous writer.

Biography

Ru Zhijuan, the youngest of 5 children, was born in Shanghai to migrants from Hangzhou. When she was 3, her mother died and her father left; she and a brother were raised by their grandmother. She did not begin primary school until 10, and a year later moved to Hangzhou with her grandmother, who died shortly after. She was sent to an orphanage in Shanghai. After a year each at a women's vocational school, a Christian missionary boarding school for girls, and a county school, she graduated from secondary school with only four years of schooling. She taught school for a short time in 1943 before joining the propaganda division of the New Fourth Army. In 1944, she married Wang Xiaoping, who was born in Singapore but arrived in China to fight the Japanese. In 1947, she joined the Communist Party of China. In 1955, she became the editor of the Monthly for Literature and Art,[3] retiring in 1960 to write full-time.[4]

The 1958 short story "Lilies" was criticized by some for its "bourgeois sentimentality"[4] but became popular after it was praised by Minister of Culture and author Mao Dun. Many of her stories of this period were intended to show the popular support for the revolution and the communist party. She also dealt with the changes in Chinese society from traditional values. She did not publish any work from 1962 to 1965, because it was felt at the time that her work dealt with the worries of everyday people rather than more important issues.[3]

She regained favour when the values from the Cultural Revolution were being reconsidered. They are generally critical of earlier policies and promote the new social norms.[3]

She served as party secretary for the Shanghai Writer's Association. She died in Shanghai at the age of 73.[4]

Works translated into English
YearChinese titleTranslated English titleTranslator(s)
1958百合花"The Lilies on a Comforter"[5]Kai-yu Hsu
"Lilies"R. A. Roberts[6]
Robert E. Hegel[7]
 
1959澄河边上"On the Banks of the Cheng"Gladys Yang[8]
春暖时节 "The Warmth of Spring"  
Sabina Knight[9]
如愿"A Promise Is Kept"[10]Yu Fanqin
1960静静的产院"The Maternity Home"[8]Tang Sheng
1961三走严庄"A Third Visit to Yanzhuang"[8]Qin Sheng
同志之间"Comradeship"[8]Gladys Yang
阿舒"Just a Happy-Go-Lucky Girl"[8]Wen Xue
在那东海边上"Between Two Seas"[8]Zhang Su
1962第二步"The Beginning of Tomorrow"[11]
1979剪辑错了的故事"A Story Out of Sequence"[12]Tian Fan, John Minford
"A Badly Edited Story"[8]Wang Mingjie
草原上的小路"The Path Through the Grassland"[8]Yu Fanqin
1980儿女情"Sons and Successors"[13]Ellen Klempner
"My Son, My Son"[14]Nancy Lee
我写〈百合花〉的经过"How I Came to Write 'Lilies on a Comforter'"[15]John Balcom

Filmography
Year English title Chinese title Notes
1960Their Wishes她们的心愿Segment 3: "Just Mention Your Need" (只要你说一声需要)
1961Spring Hastens the Blossoms Blooming春催桃李Co-wrote with Ai Mingzhi

Major awards
  • 1980: 2nd National Short Story Prize, "A Story Out of Sequence" ("A Badly Edited Story")

References
  1. Hong, Zicheng (2007). A History of Contemporary Chinese Literature. pp. 133–35. ISBN 9004157549.
  2. Hegel, Robert E. (1990). "Political Integration in Ru Zhijuan's 'Lilies'". In Huters, Theodore (ed.). Reading the Modern Chinese Short Story. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 92–104. ISBN 0-87332-572-9.
  3. Lee, Lily Xiao Hong (2003). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: The Twentieth Century, 1912-2000. pp. 432–34. ISBN 0765607980.
  4. Ying, Li-hua (2010). The A to Z of Modern Chinese Literature. pp. 161–62. ISBN 1461731879.
  5. Literature of the People's Republic of China. Indiana University Press. 1980. ISBN 0-253-16015-4.
  6. One Half of the Sky: Stories from Contemporary Women Writers of China. Heinemann. 1987. ISBN 0-434-64038-7.
  7. Reading the Modern Chinese Short Story. M.E. Sharpe. 1990. ISBN 0-87332-572-9.
  8. Ru Zhijuan (1985). Lilies and Other Stories. Chinese Literature. ISBN 0-8351-1332-9.
  9. Writing Women in Modern China: The Revolutionary Years, 1936–1976. Columbia University Press. 2005. ISBN 0-231-13216-6.
  10. Sowing the Clouds: A Collection of Chinese Short Stories. Foreign Languages Press. 1961.
  11. Chinese Literature, April 1962.
  12. Prize Winning Stories from China, 1978–1979. Foreign Languages Press. 1981.
  13. The New Realism: Writings from China After the Cultural Revolution. Hippocrene Books. 1983. ISBN 0-88254-794-1.
  14. The Rose Colored Dinner: New Works by Contemporary Chinese Women Writers. Joint Publishing. 1988. ISBN 962-04-0615-X.
  15. Furrows: Peasants, Intellectuals, and the State: Stories and Histories from Modern China. Stanford University Press. 1990. ISBN 0-8047-1805-9.
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