Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t3.6

v2.c10.s2.t3.6

mistreated by the family. At the age of nine, his father went bankrupt due to poor management, and the family never recovered from financial decline. At the age of 13, he went to Shanghai to live with his aunt. At the age of 14, he was disillusioned and went to Changshou Temple in Guangzhou to be tonsured by a Buddhist monk called Zanchu. However, one day he was caught stealing pigeon meat, and was expelled from the temple. In 1898, with money provided by his cousin Lin Ziyuan, he went to Japan for education, and in nearly six years, where he studied western arts, politics, military affairs etc at Yokohama Chinese School, at Waseda University and at the Seijo School. He lived in extreme poverty but thought nothing of it. To save oil, he never lit the lamp at night. In September 1903, since he was in favour of anti-Qing revolutions, Lin Ziyuan forced him to leave Japan. He returned to Shanghai, taught at Wuzhong Public School in Suzhou and was introduced to Chen Duxiu and Zhang Shizhao. In the meantime, he translated *Les Misérables* by Victor Hugo for *China National Gazette*. In the winter of the same year, *China National Gazette* was closed, he went to Hong Kong with a reference letter by Feng Ziyou, but was cold-shouldered by Chen Shaobai, who then took charge of *China Daily*, [Figure: *Seeing the monk off to Japan (Song seng gui Riben)*, a poem by Qian Qi, Tang Dynasty, calligraphy by Su Manshu]