Shen Congwen
Shen Congwen (December 28, 1902 – May 10, 1988), was born in Fenghuang County, Hunan Province.He was considered to be one of the greatest modern Chinese writers, on par with Lu Xun. Regional culture and identity plays a much bigger role in his writing than that of other major early modern Chinese writers. He was known for combining the vernacular style with classical Chinese writing techniques. Shen is the most important of the "native soil" writers in modern Chinese literature.He was slated to win the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature, but died before he could be awarded the prize.
Shen Congwen's novels
There are two main types of novels written by Shen Congwen. The first type is based on Xiangxi life, and the second type is based on urban life. The first type praises human beauty by describing the primitive and natural life forms of Xiangxi people, the second type reveals the loss of human nature in the city. There are over 20 novels written by Mr. Shen Congwen, such as Xiaoxiao, Sansan, Honest Man, Border Town, The Long River. But his masterpieces are Border Town,The Long River, and Shen Conwen's Autobiography.
Border Town : First published in 1934, Border Town also called “边城”（biānchéng）in Chinese, brings to life the story of Cuicui, a young country girl coming of age during a time of national turmoil. Like any teenager, Cuicui dreams of romance and finding true love. She's spellbound by the local custom of nighttime serenades, and she is deftly pursued by two eligible brothers. But Cuicui is also haunted by the imminent death of her grandfather, a poor and honorable ferryman who is her only family. As she grows up, Cuicui discovers that life is full of the unexpected and that she alone will make the choices that determine her destiny. A moving testament to the human spirit, Border Town is a beautifully written novel, considered Shen Congwen's masterpiece for its brilliant portrayal of Chinese rural life before the Communist revolution...MoreThe Longer River, also known as “长河" （Cháng hé）in Chinese, is a postscript written by Shen Congwen after he returned to Xiangxi in 1937 and had lived in a county in the middle of Yuanshui River area for about four months. It is another elegy about the characters and style of Xiangxi after "Border City". Following the eyes of the author's narrative, we can feel the various changes in the development of war in Xiangxi. The Longer River is also one of his masterpieces of literary and artistic level.
Shen Congwen's novels draw on a wide range of materials and describe the lives of various people from the countryside to the cities. Among them, the works that reflect the lives of the lower levels of people in western Hunan are the most distinctive.
Shen Congwen and his wife
Zhang Zhaohe (1910-2003), born from a rich family in Hefei City of Anhui Province. was a modern writer, and she was the wife of Mr. Shen Congwen. She was praised as "the last talent lady of the Republic of China".
In 1928-1932, she studied at the Foreign Languages Department of Chinese Public University. And Mr. Shen Congwen was a professor in the university, but he fell in lover with his student, Miss Zhang Zhaohe. On September 9, 1933, Shen Congwen and Zhang Zhaohe announced their marriage at Beiping Central Park in Beijing City.
Shen Congwen wrote a novel called "Sansan", which described the first love of a young girl. And Shen Congwen always referred to Zhang Zhaohe as " Sansan", and Zhang Zhaohe in turn referred to Shen Congwen as the "Er Ge".
On May 10, 1988, Shen Congwen died. It is fifty-nine years from acquaintance to Mr. Shen's death. Before he died, Shen Congwen said, "We love each other for a lifetime, and our lives are too short."
After Shen Congwen's death, she began to organize Shen Congwen's manuscript. Zhang Chonghe, a professor at Yale University in the United States, died in New York on June 17, 2015.
Former Residence of Shen Congwen
The Former Residence of Shen Congwen is located at Zhongying Street inside the ancient city of Fenghuang. It is one of the top nine attractions in Fenghuang Ancient Town. Shen Congwen's Former Residence is a courtyard house with strong characteristics of Western Hunan's style, as well as the obvious Ming and Qing Dynasties architectural style. In 1902, Mr. Shen Congwen was born in this house. In 1866, the courtyard house was built by Shen Hongfu, Mr. Shen Chongwen's grandfather, who once served as a Governor of Guizhou in the Qing Dynasty (1645-1911). The courtyard house is a "piercing style" wooden structure building which is divided into the front building and the back building. There are 8 compartments on both sides of the building...More
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