Wu Zhangshu lost his father when he was eleven years old, and his mother was illiterate and had difficulty making a living. From then on, she lived a life of no security and wandered around. His two brothers-in-law recognized his ambitions and loved his actions, and they supported him to study in junior high school in Luzhou and business school in Chengdu respectively. In my spare time, I went to two used bookstores on Xiyuxi Street to read the stickers, try to figure out the charm and writing style of the stickers, and secretly copied them. The clerk in the bookstore saw this poor student's dedicated "templates" and his enthusiasm for self-study. He was so moved that he not only let him look through them, but also gave him the stickers collected in the store to read.
Before graduating from high school, his brother-in-law lost his job and his financial resources were cut off. Wu Zhangshu had no choice but to enter the society prematurely. At this time, I relied on submitting articles and writing letters and articles for others to make a living. But no matter what his circumstances were, he never gave up his fanatical pursuit of words and calligraphy.
At the age of 24, he served as a Chinese language teacher in a middle school and began his academic research work.
During the Anti-Japanese War, he was introduced by friends in Chengdu to teach Chinese at Guanxian Air Force Infant School. This is a complete middle school, and some of the teachers are university professors who fled to Sichuan from occupied areas. A colleague discovered that Wu Zhangshu had extraordinary writing skills and skills, so he bought rice paper and asked him to write, and there were more and more requests. Therefore, at the age of twenty-five, he held his first calligraphy exhibition in Guan County. It has been well received by experts. After that, he made a living by selling calligraphy in Chengcai and held his second personal book exhibition. In 1951, he returned to the mainland of China from Hong Kong and worked as a literary editor in the Wuhan publishing department, while also engaging in academic research and writing. Soon, Wu Zhangshu went to Hong Kong at the invitation of overseas to work in "Weekend Edition", which promoted democracy and freedom. Due to financial difficulties, colleagues were crowded to work in pavilions. Wang Kuancheng, a diploma member of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Branch of the "Democratic National Construction Association", loved his words and talents, and wanted to recruit him into the company he ran with a generous salary and a high position. Wu Zhangshu was not tempted. After the liberation of the whole country, he resolutely returned to Wuhan, Hubei Province in New China. Wu Zhangshu worked at Hubei People's Publishing House to edit healthy reading materials for readers, and he never slacked off. Unexpectedly, in 1957, he was classified as a "rightist" and assigned to farm labor. During this period, he did all kinds of farm work, including raising pigs and cattle, but the supervisor's comment was just: "Whatever you do doesn't make sense, you are just ideologically conflicted!" Wu Zhangshu also knew that his "labor" was indeed very incompetent. , but it remains the same no matter how improved it is. Later, when he went out to graze cattle, he would simply put the animals on the grass to roam freely, while he thought about poetry, lyrics, and calligraphy. Since his early years, he had been looking forward to the arrival of the Communist Party. He once defected to Yan'an and arrived in Hanzhong. Due to the interception by the Kuomintang army, police and special forces, he returned to Sichuan due to poverty and illness. He believes that the iceberg will eventually melt, all things will recover, and the country will prosper. He, the "material", should also have a bowl of pen rice to realize his long-cherished wish. Therefore, after heavy labor, he used the sand as a pen and the earth as paper to practice calligraphy. When he was free, he used "book space" to entertain himself, chanting and having fun, without any complaints or regrets. The world is clear and the spirit is enriched. In the 1960s, he was assigned to work as a handyman in the paper warehouse of a publishing house. When he was sweeping the floor, he would pick up the discarded waste paper in the warehouse and cut it into stacks of 16-karat large manuscript paper to engage in writing. First, he wrote the first volume of "Common Sense of Reading". After his "rightist" corrections, the manuscript was immediately submitted to Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House for publication.
By the beginning of 1957, in less than 6 years, 7 kinds of works had been published. At a time when he was making progress in academic research and literary creation, he was treated unfairly and was forced to stop writing for 22 years. Work resumed in 1978.