Lao She is one of the best loved and most highly respected writers of the 20th century China. Many of his works have been made into plays, films and TV series.
Education
At the primary school he was placed in the third grade. His last year in primary school was 1912, the same year the school became a girl's school. So his last year of primary school was in the Nancaochang school in Xizhimen.
At the Middle School he only studied for six months as finances made it impossible for him to continue.So, he decided to get into the Normal School where tution was free.At the Beijing Normal School Lao She gained a foundation in the Chinese language and literature.
Career
After graduation Lao She supported himself and his mother through a series of teaching and administrative post. He served as a principal of an elementary school at the age of 17, and later he was a district supervisor. Lao She spent the years from 1924 to 1929 in London, where he taught classical Chinese and modern Chinese conversation and composition at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. By reading among others the novels of Charles Dickens,Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad, Lao She improved his English, and decided to start his fist novel.
In 1931 Lao She returned to China and continued to write and teach in various universities. He also wrote a series of comic novels. He saw humour in the everyday experiences of life. He could laugh at himself and get points across with humour, often tinted with his own brand of satire. No writer has ever put into words the language, thoughts, customs and lifestyle of Beijing and its people as has Lao She.
His most important novel, Rickshaw Boy, also known in the West as "Camel Xiangzi" or "Rickshaw", was published in 1936. In this novel Lao She traced the degrading and ruin of a industrious Beiing rickshaw puller, who finally dies on a snowy night.
The outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) radically changed Lao She's views. Between the years 1937 and 1945 he wrote a number of plays, worked as a propagandist, and headed the All-China Anti-Japanese Writers Association.
Among Lao She's most frequently performed plays is Teahouse, which was written in 1957. The play is a social and cultural commentary on the problems, culture, and changes within China during the early twentieth century.
Between the years 1946 and 1949 Lao She lived in the United States on a cultural grant at the invitation of the Department of State. When the People's Republic was established in 1949, Lao She returned to China.
He was a member of the Cultural and Educational Committee in the Government Administration Council, a deputy to the National People's Congress, a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice-chairman of the All-Cina Federation of Literature and Art and vice-chairman of the Union of Chinese Writers as well as chairman of the Beijing Federation of Literature and Art.
Religion
To Lao She the only meaningful religion was one with sacrifice at its heart. He saw sacrifice as central to both the Buddhist and the Christian faith. He had a keen sense of appreciation for all religious faith. Religious labels did not mean a great deal to him. In his home he learned early the meaning of sacrifice. He wrote often of the self-sacrificing toil of his widowed mother. Religion can only be experienced personally, issuing from the heart it expresses itself in simple kindness and helpfulness. He himself was often in dire financial straits. Out of such experiences, not only as an observer but also as a participant, he could reveal the human spirit at its worst and at its best. Lao She's life was his religion and his religion was his life. He expressed it in a natural way that did not offend the old culture nor the emerging China.
Politics
Lao She never joined a political party and took every occasion to point out the foibles of those in authority who abused the power of their position.
Although Lao She did not become an active participant of the May Fourth Movement, as he was in England at that time, he was strongly influenced by it.The May Fourth Movement gradually gave Lao She “a new spirit” (xinling) and “a new pair of eyes” with which to view the world around him. He recognized with horror what the Western imperialist had done to China and would continue to do unless the country awoke from sleep and stood on its own. The Chinese, he felt, must never again let themselves be treated as slaves of the foreigners.
First of all, this Movement was anti-feudal. Second, May Fourth was anti-imperialistic. According to Lao's words, Anti-feudalism made him appreciate the dignity of human life. May Fourth showed him what patriotism was. It showed him a way to save his country. Anti-imperialism made Lao appreciate the dignity of being a Chinese. The Chinese people should not be the slaves of Westerners. These two ideas (anti-feudalism and anti-imperialism) made up the very foundation of his thought and emotions