Xu Zhimo

Xu Zhimo (Chinese: 徐志摩; pinyin: Xú Zhìmó; Wade–Giles: Hsü Chih-mo, January 15, 1897 – November 19, 1931) was an early 20th century Chinese poet. He was given the name of Zhangxu (章垿) and the courtesy name of Yousen (槱森). He later changed his courtesy name to Zhimo (志摩).^{[Thinkquest 1]}

He is romanticized as pursuing love, freedom, and beauty all his life (from the words of Hu Shi). He promoted the form of modern Chinese poetry, and therefore made tremendous contributions to modern Chinese literature.

To commemorate Xu Zhimo, in July, 2008, a white marble stone has been installed at the back of King's College, University of Cambridge, on which is inscribed a verse from Xu's best-known poem, 'Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again'.

Brief Biography

Xu was born in Haining, Zhejiang and graduated from the famous Hangzhou High School (浙江省杭州高级中学). In 1915, he married Zhang Youyi and next year he went to Peiyang University (Beiyang University, now Tianjin University) to study Law. In 1917, he transferred to Peking University due to the law department of Peiyang University merging into Peking University. In 1918, after studying at Peking University, he traveled to the United States to study history in Clark University. Shortly afterwards, he transferred to Columbia University in New York to study economics and politics in 1919. Finding the States "intolerable", he left in 1922 to study at King's College, Cambridge in England, where he fell in love with English romantic poetry like that of Keats and Shelley, and was also influenced by the French romantic and symbolist poets, some of whose works he translated into Chinese. In 1922 he went back to China and became a leader of the modern poetry movement. In 1923, he founded the Crescent Moon Society. When the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore visited China, Xu Zhimo played the part of oral interpreter. Xu's literary ideology was mostly pro-western, and pro-vernacular. He was one of the first Chinese writers to successfully naturalize Western romantic forms into modern Chinese poetry. He worked as an editor and professor at several schools before dying in a plane crash on November 19, 1931 near Tai'an, Shandong[1] while flying from Nanjing to Beijing. He left behind four collections of verse and several volumes of translations from various languages.

The Romance of Xu Zhimo

The love stories of Xu Zhimo and three women,Zhang Youyi, Lin Huiyin,and Lu Xiaoman, spread widely in China. On October 10th,1915, Xu married Zhang Youyi^[2], the sister of Junyou Zhang who is a famous politician. This is an arranged marriage that ran counter to Xu’s faith of pursue love freely.Although, Zhang is a very virtuous wife and gave birth to two sons of Xu, she still couldn’t be accepted by Xu. Finally, they divorced in March, 1922. This is the first divorced case in China. The failure of marriage didn’t destroy Zhang, instead it stimulated she to become an independent woman. Lin Huiyin, the daughter of Changmin Lin, is the second important woman of Xu. Xu met her in London in 1921. Lin is a beautiful and talented girl they fell in love with each other at first sight. The love to Lin sparked Xu’s inspiration of writing poem. He started to write poem for Lin when he was pursuing. However, Xu was afraid to tell Lin he was already married, and felt sick of his married. So he asked his wife to divorce. Before long, Lin knew the truth she was hurt. She went back to China without saying goodbye to Xu. Although, Xu divorced with Zhang late, Lin still couldn’t accept Xu again. In 1928, Lin married Sicheng Liang, the son of Liang Qichao. Lin and Xu became bosom friends.The third and last lover of Xu is Lu Xiaoman, who was a beautiful woman in Beijing and knew a lot about literature. When the first time they met each other, Lu was already married Wang Geng, a friend of Xu. Her marriage was arranged by her parents just like Xu’s marriage. Although, Wang Geng was a good husband, Lu didn’t love him at all. She felt herself like a bird which was locked in a cage. When the two who had the similar experiences of arranged marriage met, they understand each other so much. They fell in love soon. However, their relationship was criticized by their parents and many friends. In 1925 Lu was move to Shanghai with Wang Geng and got divorced later. She finally gained freedom. In 1926, Xu and Lu married.^[3] After the marriage, they lived together happily for a while, but the happiness didn’t last long.In the late of their marriage Lu became more and more passive. Because Lu spent a lot of money and Xu’s parents rejected to provide money to them, Xu had to take several jobs at the same time at different cities of China to meet the high expense of Lu. Finally Xu died in an air crash.

Famous Works

References

• Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, article – "Hsü Chih-mo"
• Chen, Shan, "Xu Zhimo". Encyclopedia of China, 1st ed.