Cao Yu (Chinese: 曹禺, pinyin: Cáo Yǔ, Wade-Giles: Ts'ao Yü) was the literary name of Wan Jiabao (萬家寶 / 万家宝; Wade-Giles: Wan Chia-pao) (Tianjin, China; September 24, 1910 - Beijing; December 13, 1996). He was a renowned Chinese playwright, often regarded as China's most important of the 20th century. His most well-known works are Thunderstorm (1933), Sunrise (1936) and Peking Man (1940). It is largely through the efforts of Cao Yu that the modern Chinese "spoken theater" took root in 20th-century Chinese literature. Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell and yin means sound. The most common variant of pinyin in use is called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme... Wade-Giles, sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration) system for the Chinese language based on Mandarin. ...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: TiānjÄ«n; Postal map spelling: Tientsin) is one of the four municipalities of the Peoples Republic of China. ... September 24 is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... Beijing [English Pronunciation] (Chinese: 北京 [Chinese Pronunciation]; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a city in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... -1... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Template:Unsourced A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is someone who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... // [edit] Classical texts Main article: Chinese classic texts China has a wealth of classical literature, both poetry and prose, dating from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BCE) and including the Classics attributed to Confucius. ...

Biography and Works

Childhood

Cao Yu was born into a wealthy family in Qianjiang in the province of Hubei. When he was still an infant, his family's business interests necessitated a move to Tianjin where his father worked for a time as secretary to China's President, Li Yuanhong. Tianjin was a cosmopolitan city with a strong western influence, and during his childhood, Yu's mother would often take him to see western style plays, which were gaining in popularity at the time, as well as productions of Chinese traditional opera. Qianjiang (simplified Chinese: 潜江; pinyin: Qianjiang) is a sub-prefecture-level city in Chinas Hubei province. ... Hubei (Chinese: 湖北; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Hu-pei; Postal System Pinyin: Hupeh) is a central province of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Li Yüan-hung Li Yuanhong Sun Yat-sen and Li Yuanhong at Wuchang, China in April 1912 Li Yuanhong (黎元洪 Pinyin: Lí Yuánhóng, courtesy Songqing 宋卿, 1864 - June 3, 1928) was a Chinese general and political figure during the Qing dynasty and the republican era. ... 19th century Chinese opera Chinese opera costumes Chinese opera is a popular form of drama in China. ...

Such western style theater (called "huàjù" in Chinese; 話劇 / 话剧) made inroads in China under the influence of noted intellectuals such as Chen Duxiu and Hu Shih, who were proponents of a wider cultural renewal campaign of the era, marked by anti-imperialism, and a re-evaluation of Chinese cultural institutions, such as Confucianism. The enterprise crystallized in 1919, in the so-called May Fourth Movement. Chen Duxiu (October 8, 1879 – May 27, 1942) played many different roles in Chinese history. ... Hu Shih (Simplified: 胡适, Traditional: 胡適, Pinyin: Hú Shì), (December 17, 1891-February 24, 1962) was a Chinese philosopher and essayist. ... 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

Literary beginnings

The secondary school in Nankai, where Cao Yu studied and acted in western plays

Between 1920 and 1924, Cao Yu attended a Nankai secondary school, which offered a western style study program. The school maintained a society of dramatic arts in which the students were able to produce various western works, notably those of Henrik Ibsen and Eugene O'Neill, who were well-known authors in China thanks to translations published by Hu Shih. Cao Yu took acting roles in a number of the society's dramatic productions, even going so far as to assume the female role of Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House. He is also known to have assisted in the translation of Englishman, John Galsworthy's 1909 work, Strife. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1920x2560, 530 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Cao Yu Nankai High School ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1920x2560, 530 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Cao Yu Nankai High School ... Nankai refers to the series of schools founded in China by the famous patriotic-educationists Zhang Boling(张伯苓) (1876-1951) and Yan Fansun(严范孙) (1860-1920). ... Nankai refers to the series of schools founded in China by the famous patriotic-educationists Zhang Boling(张伯苓) (1876-1951) and Yan Fansun(严范孙) (1860-1920). ... Photo of Henrik Ibsen in his older days Henrik Johan Ibsen (March 20, 1828 – May 23, 1906) was an influential Norwegian playwright who was largely responsible for the rise of the modern realistic drama (dubbed the father of modern drama). It is said that Ibsen is the most frequently performed... Eugene Gladstone ONeill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was a Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: A Dolls House A Dolls House (original Norwegian title: Et dukkehjem) is a 1879 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. ... John Galsworthy (August 14, 1867 – January 31, 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. ...

After finishing his studies at Nankai secondary school, Cao Yu was first matriculated at Nankai University's Department of Political Science but transferred the next year to Tsinghua University, where he would study until graduating in 1934 with a degree in Western Languages and Literature. During his university studies, Cao Yu improved his abilities in both Russian and English. His course of studies required reading the works of such western authors as Bernard Shaw and Eugene O'Neill, and of Russian authors such as Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky, as well as translated works of classic Greek writers, Euripides and Aeschylus. This immersion in western literature would mark Yu's style in all writing genres including the "spoken theater" (as opposed to sung Chinese opera), which had had little tradition in China prior to Yu's influence. During the course of his last year at the university, Cao Yu completed his first work, Thunderstorm, which would mark a milestone in Chinese theater of the 20th century. Nankai University (Simplified Chinese: 南开大学; Traditional Chinese: 南開大學; pinyin: ), located in Tianjin, is one of the leading universities in China. ... Multiple people share the name Bernard Shaw: George Bernard Shaw, the celebrated Irish playwright (1856 - 1950) Bernard Shaw, a journalist and longtime CNN anchorman (1940 - ) This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Eugene Gladstone ONeill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was a Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright. ... Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (Russian: , Anton Pavlovič ÄŒehov) (29 January 1860 [O.S. 17 January] – 15 July 1904 [O.S. 2 July]) was a physician, major Russian short story writer and playwright. ... Gorkys autographed portrait Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov (In Russian Алексей Максимович Пешков) (March 28 [O.S. March 16] 1868–June 14, 1936), better known as Maxim Gorky (Максим Горький), was a Soviet/Russian author, a founder of the socialist realism literary method and a political activist. ... A statue of Euripides Euripides (Greek: Ευριπίδης) (c. ... Bust of Aeschylus from the Capitoline Museums, Rome Aeschylus (525 BC—456 BC; Greek: Ασχύλος) was a playwright of Ancient Greece. ... 19th century Chinese opera Chinese opera costumes Chinese opera is a popular form of drama in China. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999...

While works of Chinese playwrights previous to Cao Yu are of fundamentally historical interest and were famed in China, they garnered little critical success or popularity on the international stage. By contrast, the works of Cao Yu were marked by a whirlwind of worldwide interest, turning Cao Yu into the first Chinese playwright of international renown.

Thunderstorm

Thunderstorm is undoubtedly the most popular dramatic Chinese work of the period prior to the Japanese invasion of China in 1937. It was first published in the literary magazine, Four Months of Literature, which was founded in 1934 by Chinese intellectuals, Zheng Zhenduo and Jin Yi. Shortly after its publication, a production of the play was mounted in Jinan, and later, in 1935, in Shanghai and in Tokyo, both of which were well received. In 1936, Thunderstorm debuted in Nanjing, with Cao Yu himself acting in the lead role. In 1938, following its theatrical triumphs, the play was made into two separate movies productions, one in Shanghai and another in Hong Kong, that were almost coincidental versions of one another. The latter production, made in 1957, co-starred a young Bruce Lee in one of his few non-fighting roles. Combatants Republic of China Empire of Japan Commanders Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Tse-Tung, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Zhu De, He Yingqin Hideki Tojo, Matsui Iwane, Jiro Minami, Kesago Nakajima, Toshizo Nishio, Yasuji Okamura. ... Zheng Zhenduo Zheng Zhenduo (鄭振鐸), (1898-1958), Chinese courtesy name Xidì (西諦), was a journalist, a modern writer, an archeologist and a literature scholar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and to make a clear distinction between fact and fiction, this article may require cleanup. ... Jinan (Simplified Chinese: , Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Jǐnán) is a sub-provincial city and the capital of Shandong province, Peoples Republic of China. ... Shanghai (Chinese: ; pinyin:  ; Shanghainese: ), situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta in East China, is the largest city of the Peoples Republic of China and the eighth largest in the world. ... Tokyo , literally Eastern capital)   is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, the home of the Japanese Imperial Family, and the de facto[1] capital of Japan. ...   (Chinese: 南京; Romanizations: NánjÄ«ng (Pinyin), Nan-ching (Wade-Giles), Nanking (Postal map spelling)) is the capital of Chinas Jiangsu Province and a city with a prominent place in Chinese history and culture. ... Shanghai (Chinese: ; pinyin:  ; Shanghainese: ), situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta in East China, is the largest city of the Peoples Republic of China and the eighth largest in the world. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

The plot of Thunderstorm centers on one family's psychological and physical destruction as a result of incest, as perpetrated at the hands of its morally depraved and corrupt patriarch, Zhou Puyuan. Although it is undisputed that the prodigious reputation achieved by Thunderstorm was due in large part to its scandalous public airing of the topic of incest, and many people have pointed out not inconsiderable technical imperfections in its structure, Thunderstorm is nevertheless considered to be a milestone in China's modern theatrical ascendancy. Even those who have questioned the literary prowess of Cao Yu, for instance, the noted critic C. T. Hsia, admit that the popularization and consolidation of China's theatrical genre is fundamentally owed to the first works of Cao Yu. This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... For other senses, see Patriarch (disambiguation). ...

Sunrise and The Wilderness

In Cao Yu's second play, Sunrise, published in 1936, he continues his thematic treatment respecting individuals' progressive moral degradation in the face of a hostile society. In it, the history of several Shanghai women are narrated, and whose stories show their lives disintegrating in response to lack of affection and of acknowledgment by the society surrounding them, leading them down a tragic path from which they cannot escape. In 1937, Cao Yu's third play, The Wilderness (the Chinese name of which can also be translated as The Field), was released but which enjoyed less success than his previous works. The Wilderness relates a succession of murders and stories of revenge set in a forest. At the time the play was published, social realism was the rage in China, and critics were not pleased with the work's supernatural and fantastical elements. There was a resurgence of interest in The Wilderness in 1980, however, and Cao Yu, then 70-years-old, collaborated in staging a production of his play. The play was made into a movie in 1987. In literature, a theme is a broads idea in a story, or a message conveyed by a work. ... Look up Supernatural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Writings during the Japanese occupation

After the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, Cao Yu took shelter in the central city of Chongqing, along with the government of Chiang Kai-shek. There he wrote his fourth work, The Metamorphosis, which greatly departed from his previous works, concerning itself with patriotic exaltation. Produced for the first time in 1939, the play is set in a military hospital that is bombed by the Japanese army. Although a change for Cao Yu, he was in good company as concentrating on war themes and settings was favored by most of the prominent Chinese writers active during the Second Sino-Japanese War in areas controlled by the government of Chongqing. By contrast, in northern China, as controlled by Mao Tse Tung's communists, an altogether different type of literature was developing, dedicated to exalting the communist movement. Combatants Republic of China Empire of Japan Commanders Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Tse-Tung, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Zhu De, He Yingqin Hideki Tojo, Matsui Iwane, Jiro Minami, Kesago Nakajima, Toshizo Nishio, Yasuji Okamura. ... Chongqing (Simplified Chinese: , Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Chóngqìng; Postal System Pinyin: Chungking) is the largest and most populous of the Peoples Republic of Chinas four provincial-level municipalities, and the only one in the less densely populated western half of China. ... Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887 – April 5, 1975) was a Chinese military and political leader who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) after the 1925 death of Sun Yat-sen. ... Alternative meaning: In geology, North China (continent) and South China (continent) were two ancient landmasses that correspond to modern northern and southern China. ... Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893—September 9, 1976) was the chairman of the Communist Party of China from 1935 until his death. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... Survivors of the Long March coalesce Mao Zedong declares the Peoples Republic of China The Chinese Revolution or Chinese Revolution of 1949 refers to the final stage of fighting (1946–1950) in the Chinese Civil War. ...

In 1940, Cao Yu completed the writing of his fifth play, Peking Man, considered his most profound and successful work. Set in Peking (today Beijing) as its name implies, and in the then present, surprisingly the work does not allude to the war with Japan at all, but chronicles the history of a well-heeled family that is incapable of surviving and adapting to social changes which are destroying the traditional world and culture in which they live. The title of the work is an allusion to the so-called Peking Man, the proto-human who inhabited the north of China several hundred thousand years ago. Cao Yu's recurrent themes are present, emphasizing the inability of traditional families to adapt themselves to modern society and its customs and ways. Beijing (Chinese: 北京; pinyin: Běijīng; Wade-Giles: Pei-ching; Postal System Pinyin: Peking), is the capital city of the Peoples Republic of China. ... It has been suggested that Social development be merged into this article or section. ... Allusion is a stylistic device or trope, in which one refers covertly or indirectly Hollys Face. ... Trinomial name Homo erectus pekinensis (Black, 1927) Peking Man (sometimes now called Beijing Man), also called Sinanthropus pekinensis (currently Homo erectus pekinensis), is an example of Homo erectus. ...

In 1941, while still in Chongqing, Cao Yu completed a theatrical adaptation of the famous work, The Family, by novelist, Ba Jin. His last written work during the Japanese occupation was The Bridge, published in 1945 but not produced as a play until 1947, after the end of the war when Japanese troops in China formally surrendered on September 9, 1945. Ba Jin in 1938 Li Yaotang (Chinese: 李尧棠, Zi: 芾甘, Feigan) (November 25, 1904 – October 17, 2005) is considered to be one of the most important and widely read Chinese writers of the twentieth century. ... September 9 is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years). ... 1945 (MCMVL) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ...

During his tenure in Chongqing, Cao Yu taught classes in the city's School of Dramatic Art and completed a translation into Chinese of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet, commonly referred to as Romeo and Juliet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare concerning the fate of two young star-crossed lovers. ...

Travel to the United States and return to China

Following the end of the war, Cao Yu traveled to the United States with another celebrated Chinese writer Lao She. Together, the pair spent a full year touring the U.S. After returning to China, Yu was hired by a movie studio based in Shanghai to write the screenplay and to direct the 1946 released movie, Day of the Radiant Sun (艷陽天 / 艳阳天; Yànyángtiān). Lao She (老舍, Pinyin: LÇŽo ShÄ›), (February 3, 1899 – October 14, 1966) was a noted Chinese writer. ...

Writings after the founding of the People's Republic of China

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Cao Yu took on the role of director of Peking's Popular Theater Art League — A role he would remain in for the rest of his life. Although in his youth Yu had been critical of communist ideology, because his first works, with their portrait of decline and cruelty brought on by bourgeois society, were admitting of a Marxist interpretation, they became very popular in 1960s Chinese society; an epoch in which the ideology of Mao Zedong demanded that all literary creation be in service to the communist cause. From a political point of view, the Peoples Republic of China had, for several decades, been known as the political entity that is often synonymous with Mainland China. ... Mao redirects here. ...

In addition to supervising successive production of his earliest plays, Cao Yu kept on writing, and in 1956, published Bright Skies. Thereafter, in 1961, the decade of his major public recognition, he published Courage and the Sword, his first historical drama. This work, although set at the end of the Zhou Dynasty during the Warring States Period, contains pronounced allusions to the defeat of Mao Zedong's political ideology clothed in his Great Leap Forward. His and others' critiques of Mao, and the struggle for power in the halls of government, ultimately ended in the Cultural Revolution; a campaign enforced by Mao to reaffirm his power and to fight against the bourgeois and capitalist elements surfacing in both the political and cultural spheres. The attacks against intellectuals during the Cultural Revolution affected Cao Yu, causing him distress and alienation. However, he was able to rehabilitate himself after Mao's death and Deng Xiaoping subsequent rise to power as de facto ruler of China. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Alternative meaning: Warring States Period (Japan) The Warring States Period (Traditional Chinese: 戰國時代; Simplified Chinese: 战国时代; Pinyin: Zhànguó Shídài) covers the period from sometime in the 5th century BC to the unification of China by the Qin in 221 BC. It is nominally considered to be the second part... The Great Leap Forward (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Dàyuèjìn) of the Peoples Republic of China was an economic and social plan to use Chinas vast population to rapidly transform mainland China from a primarily agrarian economy dominated by peasant farmers into a modern, industrialized... The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: WúchÇŽn JiÄ“jí Wénhuà Dà Gémìng; literally Proletarian Cultural Great Revolution; often abbreviated to 文化大革命 wénhuà dà gémìng, literally Great Cultural Revolution, or even simpler, to 文革 wéngé, Cultural Revolution) in the People... Deng Xiaoping with US President Jimmy Carter Deng Xiaoping   (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Dèng XiÇŽopíng; Wade-Giles: Teng Hsiao-ping; August 22, 1904–February 19, 1997) was a leader in the Communist Party of China (CCP). ... De facto is a Latin expression that means in fact or in practice. It is commonly used as opposed to de jure (meaning by law) when referring to matters of law or governance or technique (such as standards), that are found in the common experience as created or developed without...

Cao Yu's last work was Wang Zhaojun, released in 1979. On December 13, 1996, at 86 years of age, Cao Yu died in Peking.

Bibliography

• Thunderstorm (雷雨 Leiyu), 1934.
• Sunrise (日出 Richu), 1936.
• The Wilderness (原野 Yuanye), 1937.
• The Metamorphosis (蛻變 / 蜕变 Tuibian), 1940.
• Peking Man (北京人 Beijing ren), 1940.
• The Bridge (橋 / 桥 Qiao), 1945.
• Bright Skies (明朗的天 Minlang de tian), 1956.
• Courage and the Sword (膽劍篇 / 胆剑篇 Dan jian pian), 1961.
• Wang Zhaojun (王昭君), 1979.

References

• English.cnhubei.com (2004) Cao Yu. Retrieved May 1, 2006.
• CCNT.com.cn (2006) Cao Yu and His Trilogy. Retrieved May 1, 2006.
• Cao Yu. From the Spanish-language Wikipedia. Retrieved April 30, 2006, and containing the internal references:
  • Bonnie S. McDougall y Kam Louie, The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century, Columbia University Press, 1999. (ISBN 0-231-11085-5)
  • C. T. Hsia, A History of Modern Chinese Fiction, Indiana University Press, tercera edición, 1999. (ISBN 0-253-21311-8)

External links

• (Spanish) Brief biography of Cao Yu in Radio International China.