Li Shutong
(1880-1942)
Li Shutong was a famous musician and educator in the modern history of our country. As an early enlightener of China's New Culture Movement, he engaged in various artistic activities throughout his life and made high achievements in the fields of music, drama, painting, calligraphy, poetry and other arts and culture. At the same time, it also cultivated a large number of outstanding artistic talents.
Li Shutong was born in Tianjin in 1880 to a family of Jinshi and salt merchants. As a child, he had a wide range of knowledge. When he was young, he was already good at reciting poems, painting, writing and engraving. He came to Shanghai in 1901 and studied at Nanyang Public School. He was a student of the educator Mr. Cai Yuanpei. While studying, Li Shutong was still engaged in various artistic activities. He has outstanding literary talent and won the first prize three times in the "Lu Xuetang" essay competition, which was highly praised by people. From 1905 to 1910, he studied Western painting and music at Ueno Art College in Tokyo, Japan. He became the first progressive intellectual in modern China to study music and painting abroad, and he was also the first person in my country to study Western music. In addition to studying composition theory, he also majored in piano. In 1906, Li Shutong edited and published my country's earliest music journal "Music Magazine" in Japan and distributed it domestically. His purpose in founding the publication was to use music to arouse people's hearts and promote social progress and development. In the "Little Music Magazine", three songs he composed, "My Country", "Spring Suburban Race" and "Sui Diliu" were also published. In March 1910, Li Shutong returned to his motherland and taught in Tianjin and Shanghai successively. At the same time, he served as the music editor of "Pacific News". In 1913, he served as a music and art teacher at Zhejiang No. 1 Normal University, and concurrently served as a music and art teacher at Nanjing Higher Normal University. In 1918, he went to Hangzhou Hupao Temple to become a monk. His Buddhist name was Yanyin, and his nickname was Hongyi. He died of illness in Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou, Fujian Province in 1942.
Reference materials: www.smth.org/pc/pccon.php?id=6186&nid=152970&s=all