Xu Dishan (1893～1941), a modern writer and scholar. His name was Zankun, and his courtesy name was Dishan. When he was a child, his father used the metaphor of falling peanuts to educate his children, which left a deep impression on Xu Dishan. When Xu Dishan started writing in 1921, he used Luo Huasheng as his pen name (in ancient Chinese, "华" Same as "flower"), encourage yourself to be a person with the character of a peanut. His ancestral home is Jieyang, Guangdong, and he was born into a family of patriots in Tainan, Taiwan. After returning to the mainland, he settled in Longxi, Fujian. After graduating from middle school in 1910, he served as a teacher in a normal school and a middle school. In 1917, he was admitted to the School of Liberal Arts of Yenching University. After graduating in 1920, he stayed at the school to teach. During this period, he co-sponsored the ten-day issue of "New Society" with Zhai Qiubai, Zheng Zhenduo and others to actively promote the revolution. He was engaged in literary activities before and after the May 4th Movement. In January 1921, he and 12 people including Shen Yanbing, Ye Shengtao, and Zheng Zhenduo initiated the establishment of a literary research association in Peiping and founded the "Novel Monthly". In 1922, he went to the United States to enter the Department of Philosophy at the Graduate School of Columbia University in New York, where he studied the history of religion and comparative religious studies and received a master's degree in literature. Later, he transferred to Mansfield College of Oxford University in the UK to study religion, Indian philosophy, Sanskrit, anthropology, folklore, etc. In 1927, he returned to China and worked as an associate professor and professor in the School of Liberal Arts and the School of Religion of Yenching University, while devoting himself to literary creation. In 1935, he was appointed as the chief professor of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Hong Kong and moved his family to Hong Kong. While in Hong Kong, he concurrently served as the chairman of the Hong Kong Chinese-British Cultural Association. After the "July 7" Incident in 1937, he published articles and speeches to promote anti-Japanese resistance and opposed surrender. When the "Southern Anhui Incident" occurred, he and Zhang Yiyan jointly sent a call to Chiang Kai-shek, calling for unity, peace and a cessation of war. At the same time, he served as the executive director of the Hong Kong branch of the All-China Literary and Art Circles Anti-Enemy Association, campaigning for the cause of resisting Japan and national salvation, and carried out various organizational and educational work. Later, he died of illness due to overwork.
The literary works created by Xu Dishan throughout his life were mostly set in Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong, Southeast Asia, and India. His main works include "Spiritual Rain in the Empty Mountain", "Weaving Spiders in the Web", "Dangerous Nest and the Falling Barrel", "History of Taoism", "Collection of Da Zhong", "Indian Literature"; translated works include "Twenty Night Questions", "Sunset", "Bengali Folktales", etc.!
[Edited Edition Paragraph] Anecdotes of Xu Dishan
Xu Dishan admired Rabindranath Tagore, the "poetic saint" of India, very much. He likes Tagore's works, so he has translated Tagore's poems, novels and essays such as "Gitanjali", "On the Way to Calcutta", "Novel Monthly", "Master, Take My Pipa". Xu Dishan's love for Tagore also aroused his strong interest in Indian literature. In 1928, he translated "Bengali Folktales". In 1930, he published the monograph "Indian Literature". In 1934, he also translated the Indian stories "Sunset" and "Twenty Night Questions"... thus becoming A renowned expert on Indian literature. After several years of hard work, Xu Dishan's efforts for Sino-Indian cultural exchanges have yielded fruitful results.
According to statistics, in the few years after Xu Dishan returned from studying in the UK (from 1927 to 1935 when he left Yenching University), he wrote 8 academic papers and 5 academic treatises