Wen Yiduo

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This is a Chinese name; the family name is Wen.

Statue of Wen Yiduo at Tsinghua University in Beijing

Wen Yiduo (traditional Chinese: 聞一多; simplified Chinese: 闻一多; pinyin: Wén Yīduō; Wade-Giles: Wen I-to; 24 November 1899–15 July 1946), born Wén Jiāhuá (聞家驊), courtesy name Yǒusān (友三), was a Chinese poet and scholar.

[edit] Biography

Wen was born in Xishui County, Hubei. After receiving a traditional education he went on to continue studying at the Tsinghua University. In 1922, he traveled to the United States to study fine arts and literature in the Art Institute of Chicago. It was during this time that his first collection of poetry, Hongzhu (紅燭, "Red Candle"), was published. In 1925, he traveled back to China and took a university teaching post. In 1928, his second collection, Sishui (死水, "Dead Water"), was published. His poetry is influenced by Western models. In the same year he joined the Crescent Society and wrote essays on poetry, mostly stressing that poetry should have "formal properties". He also began to publish the results of his classical Chinese literature research.

At the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War (World War II), he moved to Kunming, Yunnan, and continued to teach in National Southwestern Associated University. He became politically active in 1944 and continued to be so until his death. His outspoken nature led to his assassination by secret agents of Kuomintang, right after attending a gathering on 15 July 1946 in Kunming.