Background
Zhu Ziqing, a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang, was born in Donghai in Jiangsu and later moved to Yangzhou with his father and grandfather. He studied in private schools during his youth and was influenced by traditional Chinese culture.
Zhu Ziqing, a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang, was born in Donghai in Jiangsu and later moved to Yangzhou with his father and grandfather. He studied in private schools during his youth and was influenced by traditional Chinese culture.
Zhu Ziqing was admitted to Peking University in AD 1916. During his time at the university, he was actively involved in the May Fourth Movement. Zhu Ziqing taught in various secondary schools in Zhejiang and Jiangsu after graduating from university. He also continued to pioneer the literary revolution.
Zhu Ziqing was a prolific writer who created as many 27 kinds of literary works with a total of 1.9 million words, including poetry, prose, academic reports, literary criticism, and so on. His works can be categorised into three main series.
The first is a set of prose writings that reflect the cruel realities of society, with representative works like The Price of a Life: 70 Cents, The White Man: the Pride of God and The Massacre of the Government.
The second series of prose works revolves around personal and family life, like The Sight of Father’s Back, My children and Mourning, which were full of human touches expressed the relationships between father and son, husband and wife, and friends.
Zhu Ziqing’s third series of works depicts natural scenery and objects with genuine affection. Some works in this series are Green, The Qinhuai River in the Sound of Oars the Glow of Lamps, Moonlight Over the Lotus Pond, and Spring.
The Diligent Zhu Ziqing
Zhu Ziqing was a very committed and hardworking manitoba According to his wife's memoirs, Zhu Ziqing never wasted a single second in his life. He made full use of his time, following a tight schedule daily. He would wake up early in the morning. He put a book on the shelf so he could read while rinsing his mouth. He would go to the library and stay there until it was time to go home for lunch. After lunch, he would read the newspapers. Zhu Ziqing then went to the library again when it re-opened in the afternoon. He would return to the library yet again after dinner, and would stay there until it was closed for the day. Zhu Ziqing would continue writing after he got home from the library, and went to bed at 11 o'clock. In the 17 years that they spent together, his wife never saw him going to bed before 11 o'clock except when he was sick.
Zhu Ziqing began publishing his poems in late 1919. Though he did not produce a large quantity of poems, his poems had an air of freshness and simplicity with his uniquely cheerful and natural style. His poems revolved around the themes of freedom, ideals, the revelation of the darkness in society, and anti-imperialism.
Though Zhu had started to compose poems after the May Fourth Movement, his 1923 prose work The Qinhuai River in the Sound of Oars and the Glow of Lamps showed his extraordinary talents in prose. From then on, he devoted himself to prose writing and made great accomplishments. The 1928 prose collection, The Sight of Father’s Back , made him a highly reputed essayist.
Zhu Ziqing was not only adept at descriptive writing but was also an expert at weaving feelings and scenery into his descriptions. His landscape prose has a very high status in modern literature. Zhu Ziqing was very careful about wording and had superb abilities in manipulating language. His unique observations and delicate descriptions embodied his feelings of loss and desperation since failure of the great resolution.
The war of liberation entered its last stage in early AD 1948, when Zhu Ziqing was seriously ill but could not afford treatment. However, he signed a petition against American flour without any hesitation.
Zhu Ziqing died the same year. Before he passed away, he reminded his family that he had signed a petition against American flour, and that his family should not buy anу American flour from the Kuomingtang. Zhu Ziqing was indeed an upright man who maintained his integrity and noble nature throughout his life.
