Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t8: Xu Zhimo
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t8
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Xu Zhimo
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Xu Zhimo (January 15, 1897 - November 19, 1931) was one of the most renowned romantic Chinese poets of early 20th century who was born in Haining city of Zhejinag province. During his childhood days he was named Zhangxu but later on when he went to United States for higher studies he changed his name to Zhimo, according to his father's wishes.
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*Xu Zhimo*
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Xu Zhimo completed his schooling in Hangzhou High School between 1910-1915 and in 1915 he married Zhang Youyi. But since this was an arranged marriage it did not last long. In the following year (in 1916), he moved to Peiyang Univeristy present-day Tianjin University to study law. In 1917, he shifted to Peking University as the law department of Peiyang University merged with the former. In 1918, after studying at Peking University for about a year, he travelled to the United States of America 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 place “intolerable”, he left in 1921 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. Another important and noteworthy event of his life during this time was that it is in London he fell in love with Lin Huiyin and divorced his first wife Zhang. Inspired by his new life and love, Xu wrote many poems during that time. But as Lin was promised by her father to marry someone else, Lin and Xu Zhimo had to finally break up. Finally he married Lu Xiaomen in 1926 and settled with her till the end.
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Tomb of Xu Zhimo, Haining, Zhejiang Province, China
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In 1922, he went back to China and became a leader of the modern poetry movement. In 1923, he founded the Crescent Moon Society and served as an editor of the literary supplement of the Chenbao (Morning Post), the most important literary supplement in Beijing at that time. When Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore visited China in 1924, Xu Zhimo played the part of oral interpreter.
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Xu Zhimo was also renowned for his use of the vernacular language. He was one of the first Chinese writers to successfully naturalise Western romantic forms into modern Chinese poetry. In 1927, he helped organise the Xinyue Shudian (Crescent Moon Book Company). The following year he began editing *Xinyue* (“Crescent Moon”), a literary monthly featuring liberal ideas and Western literature. He also served as professor of literature and law at various universities and schools before dying in a plane crash on November 19, 1931 near Tai’an, Shandong while flying from Nanjing to Beijing. He left behind four collections of verse and several volumes of translations from various languages.
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(*Arttatrana Nayak*)