Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t12.2

v2.c15.s2.t12.2

Born in Huang Gang city of Xi-shui county of Hubei province in 1899, Wen Yiduo joined the Qing Hua school of Beijing in 1912. At a very early age, he proved his mettle as a scholar and poet of inborn ingenuity through the contribution of short literary sketches to Qing Hua Weekly (Qign-hua Zhou-kan清华周刊) in 1916. Further, Wen Yiduo was not simply an arm-chair scholar and poet, but was above all a patriotic personage of the first order. When the May Fourth Movement occurred in 1919, he joined the All China students’ federation, an offshoot of the May Fourth Movement of 1919, as a representative of Qing Hua University and actively took part in all its activities and programmes launched in the course of the nation-wide anti-imperialist agitation. In April 1920, he published his first colloquial literary piece, *A Roaming Student* (Luke shi de xuesheng 旅客式的学生) and in September of the same year, another poem titled *West Bank* （xi-an西岸）in a new style in contrast to the poems of the traditional style. In November 1921, he had taken a pioneering role in establishing the “Qing Hua Literary Society” （qinghua wenxu-she清华文学社）in collaboration with Liang Shiqiu and some other eminent literary figures of his time.