Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t3.22

v2.c10.s2.t3.22

Su Manshu had an unusual and unrestrained talent, and his writing was neat and elegant and hard to be matched. He wrote love stories in classical Chinese, such as *Duanhonglingyan Ji* and *Jiangsha Ji*. These stories are delicate, touching and somewhat autobiographical. Most of his poems are sentimental, and often portray a scene of a lonely lamp midst wind and rain, “cassock and tears”, worries and sadness. He benefited from Sanskrit and Buddhism studies and improved his writings accordingly. Zhang Taiyan praised him as “having a noble character and desisting secular gains”. Zhou Zuoren admired his translations. *Collected Works of Su Manshu* and many other works are extant. He also left some valuable paintings.