Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t5: Xu Dishan

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t5

Language: English

Xu Dishan

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Xu Dishan (February 14, 1893-August 4, 1941) was a Chinese writer and scholar of Indology, and was known by another name of Zankun, and had a courtesy name of Dishan, and pseudonym of Luohuasheng.

Dishan was originally from Fujian province, and was born in Taiwan. He moved to Fujian with his family in 1895, then to Guangdong in 1897. At first, he received education at home after which he went to school. He taught in Fujian Provincial Second Normal School in 1912 and in 1913, taught in the school for overseas Chinese in Yangon in Burma (Myanmar), where he began to be interested in Buddhism, finally, returned to China in 1915 to keep teaching in Fujian Provincial Normal School. He studied in the School of Liberal Arts of Yenching University from 1917 to 1920, receiving the Bachelor of Arts, and stayed at school to be the teaching assistant

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*Xu Dishan*

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of Zhou Zuoren (a famous Chinese writer). He also studied spiritual courses at the Seminary of Yenching University, and graduated in 1922, receiving the Bachelor of Theology. In the same year, he went to Columbia University in New York of the United States of America to learn history of religion and comparative religion, receiving the Master of Arts in 1924. Then, in the same year, he went to University of Oxford in Britain for learning history of religion, Indian philosophy, Sanskrit and Folklore, receiving the Bachelor of Arts of University of Oxford in 1926. In October of the same year, on the way back to China, he went to Banaras Hindu University in India to learn Sanskrit and Buddhist Studies. He taught in Yenching University from 1927 to 1935, holding the post of teaching assistant, associate professor (1928) and professor (1930), and he was also the part-time teacher of Peking University, Tsinghua University and Beijing Normal University. He again went to India to learn more about Indian religion, Indian literature and Sanskrit from June 1-6, 1934. Since

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*'Selected Prose of Xu Dishan' (Xu Dishan Sanwen xuanji)*, front cover

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1936, he worked as the professor of Faculty of Arts of The University of Hong Kong, until he died of heart attack.

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Literary creations

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In 1919, he made the acquaintance of Zheng Zhenduo, Qu Qiubai, Geng Jizhi and Qu Shiying in Beijing while jointly editing the youth literature called *New Society*, which was a periodical published every 10 days, and began to be engaged in prose writing, with about 20 published works. In 1921, Xu Dishan, Mao Dun, Zheng Zhenduo, Wang Tongzhao and Ye Shaojun set up the Literary Research Association. In the same year, he published his first short story *Jivajivika Bird* in *Novel Monthly*, attracting a great deal of attention from the literary world. And then he consecutively published three short stories including *Businessman’s Wife* in the same magazine. In 1922, he published a short story *Laboring Spider* in *Novel Monthly*. In 1923, Xie Bing Xin, Liang Shiqiu and Xu Dishan went to America for studies, and published the short story *Goddess Lakshmi* in *Novel Monthly*. In 1924, he published short poems like *Looking at Me*, *Love Letter* and *Mailbox*, short stories like *Withered Flower* in *Novel Monthly*. Later, he met Lao She (a famous Chinese writer). In January 1925 his first collection of short stories *Laboring Spider* was published and in June, the prose collection *Raining in the Mountain* was also published. Since then, he had less literary creation but more academic works. In 1927, he published the poetry *My Patients* in *Novel Monthly*, and *In the Living Room of Premier Fei* in 1928. In 1930, he wrote children stories like *Firefly Light* and *M’yrtle*, and published them in 1941. In 1933, his second collection of short stories *Liberator* was published by Beiping (present-day Beijing) Xing Yun Tang Bookstore, and his short story *Heart of a Teenage Girl* was published in the monthly magazine *Literature*. In 1934, he published short stories *Pretended Person* and *A Woman for Two* in the magazine *Literature*. In 1938, he published one-act play *Heroine* in *Ta Kung Pao* mobilising Chinese people for Anti-Japanese War. In 1939, he published novella *Wang Guan* in 10-day periodical *Wind*. In 1940, the play-script *Murderer* was published in *Cosmic Wind* but the play-script *Mulan* was not published. In February 1941, he published the short story *Fish Gill in the Wind*, in the same year. Yu Dafu reprinted it in *Overseas Chinese Weekly* of Singapore.

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'Groundnut (Luo hua sheng)', front cover

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One of the outstanding features of Xu Dishan's literary creation is that his works were deeply influenced by Indian literature. Especially, in his early proses and short stories, he uses a lot of Buddhist vocabulary, and expresses the thought of Buddhism. In his first novel *The Jivajivika Bird* he quotes from the allusion in a Buddhist story. In 1923, he had not yet been to India but he had introduced the Hindu mythology 'Samudra manthan' in his story *Goddess Lakshmi*. It relates the story of Lakshmi (lucky lady) who rises from the sea made of cream and milk, and she is the wife of Visnu, who protects the world.

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Study and translation of Indology

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Xu Dishan began to focus on Buddhism during his boyhood, and studied the Buddhist scriptures when he grew up, which gave him a strong Indian complex. As early as May in 1920, he published his translation of Rabindranath Tagore's philosophical article *True Feelings of Beauty* on the supplement to *Morning Paper* and his novel *On the Way to Calcutta* in *Novel Monthly* in 1921. He was one of the earliest writers to translate Tagore's philosophy articles and novels. In 1921, he held a special symposium and invited Xu Zhimo to introduce Tagore's achievements and literary creations. In the same year he began to study Sanskrit by himself. He studied the comparative religion in America in 1923, the Sanskrit and Indian philosophy in Britain in 1924. In 1925, he published *Influence on Chinese Literature from Indian Yilan Literature* in *Novel Monthly*, and it is the earliest works on the comparison of Chinese and Indian literatures in modern China. In 1926, he went to India to study Sanskrit and Buddhist studies. At the same time, he also made a special trip to Visva-Bharati University to visit the great poet Tagore. In 1927, he wrote three books of *Index of Subtitle of Buddhist Scriptures*, which was published in Sinological Index Series of Yenching Institute, and wrote *Style of Indian Drama and its Manifestation on Chinese Drama*, which was published in *Novel Monthly*. He began to teach Indian philosophy in Peking University in 1928, and was one of the earliest scholars who taught Indian philosophy in modern China. His part-time translation of *Folk Tales of Bengal* was published by the Commercial Press in 1929. In 1930, he wrote *Dinnaga's Hetuvidya of Madhyamaka and Yoga* and *Humble Opinion on Stone Inscription Era* which were published in *Yenching Journal of Chinese Studies*. In the same year his book *Indian Literature* was published by Commercial Press, and it is China's first works which makes a comprehensive and systematic introduction of Indian literature. In 1934, he went to India to study for six months at his own expense, and then began to translate Indian folk tales such as *Questions asked in 20 Nights* and *The Setting of the Sun* after returning to China. In the same year, the *Origin of Worshiping Avalokitesvara* was published in *Ta Kung Pao* in Tianjin. In 1935, *Questions asked in 20 Nights* was published in the magazine *Literature*, and came out as a book in 1955 from the Writers Publishing House from which *The Setting of the Sun* was also published in 1956. In 1939, he used his spare time to compile Sanskrit dictionary, with more than 80,000 cards having been made, however, the dictionary was not completed due to his sudden death. Within his short life he has with great enthusiasm, made a pioneering contribution to the research and translation of Indology in China.

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(*Xue Keqiao*)