{{short description|Sinologist, writer and translator}} {{Infobox academic | name = Florence Ayscough | image = Florence Ayscough.jpg | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1875|1|21}} | birth_name = Florence Wheelock | death_date = {{death date and age |1942|04|26|1875|1|25|df=y}} | known_for = Writer and translator of Chinese literature | spouse = {{plainlist| * [[Harley Farnsworth MacNair]] * Francis Ayscough }} | discipline = [[Sinology]] | occupation = Lecturer at [[University of Chicago]] | notable_works = ''Chinese Women Yesterday and Today'' (1939), ''Fir-Flower Tablets'' (1921) }}
'''Florence Ayscough MacNair''' (21 January 1875 – 26 April 1942) was a [[sinologist]], writer and translator of Chinese literature.
== Early life and education == Florence Ayscough, née Wheelock, was born in [[Shanghai]], China, to Canadian father, Thomas Reed Wheelock, and an American mother, Edith H. Clarke.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ayscough-florence-187578-1942|title=Ayscough, Florence (1875/78–1942) {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com|language=en|access-date=2018-09-06}}</ref><ref name=":1" />
Ayscough moved to the United States aged nine, and attended Shaw School in [[Brookline, Massachusetts|Brookline]], Massachusetts, near Boston.<ref name=":1" /> It was at the school that she met [[Amy Lowell]], the American poet. The two were lifelong friends.<ref name=":0" /> Ayscough's family returned to live in China when she was in her early twenties.<ref>{{Cite book|title=China as I see it: The resident writing of British women in China, 1890–1940|last=Bright|first=Rachel M.|publisher=Temple University|year=2008|isbn=9780549445531|pages=65}}</ref> She was a student of Chinese art, literature, and sociology.<ref name=":1" />
== Career == Ayscough was a lecturer on Chinese art and literature and was the author of eight books on Chinese history, culture, literary criticism and translation.<ref name=":0" /> She traveled as a lecturer to cities including London, Paris, Berlin and New York.<ref name=":1" /> Ayscough accepted a permanent lecturing post at the [[University of Chicago]] in 1938, where she lectured on Chinese literature<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=http://digital.lib.sfu.ca/ceww-545/ayscough-florence-wheelock|title=Ayscough, Florence Wheelock|work=SFU Digitized Collections|access-date=2018-09-07|language=en}}</ref> and continued her translation work and documenting the history and culture of China.<ref name=":0" />
She was Honorary Librarian of the [[North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society|North China Branch Royal Asiatic Society]] in Shanghai for fifteen years.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|chapter=Ayscough, Florence, (died 24 April 1942), writer and translator of Chinese literature|date=2007-12-01|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-222091|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u222091|access-date=2018-09-06|title=Who Was Who|isbn=978-0-19-954089-1|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Knowledge is pleasure : Florence Ayscough in Shanghai|last=Lindsay|first=Shen|date=2012|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|isbn=9789882208810|location=Hong Kong [China]|oclc=821734055}}</ref>
She collected modern Chinese paintings, including work by [[Xu Gu]]. Her efforts introduced this Chinese art form to the American public.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Collectors, collections & collecting the arts of China : histories & challenges|last1=Steuber|first1=Jason|last2=Lai|first2=Guolong|year=2014|isbn=9780813049144|location=Gainesville|oclc=857743827}}</ref>
Her writings included translations of classical poetry and essays on Chinese art, history, and philosophy. She work also attempted to correct previous inaccurate attempts to translate the cultures of ancient and contemporary China, for example perspectives of China as a stagnant culture. In addition to countering negative stereotypes with positive reevaluations, she also sought to correct misinformation. For example, her review of the 1931 novel ''[[The Good Earth]]'' by American writer [[Pearl Buck]], Ayscough praised the choice of contemporary Chinese peasantry as the subject, but criticized the accuracy.<ref>{{Cite book|title=China as I see it: The resident writing of British women in China, 1890–1940|last=Bright|first=Rachel M.|publisher=Temple University|year=2008|isbn=9780549445531|pages=65}}</ref>
Ayscough had a strong influence on the work of her friend Amy Lowell, being the source of Lowell's interest in Asian culture and Chinese poetry.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Amy Lowell anew : a biography|last=Rollyson|first=Carl E.|isbn=9781442223943|location=Lanham, Maryland|oclc=852158459|date = 8 August 2013}}</ref> Ayscough introduced Lowell to Chinese paintings and poetry in 1917.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Embracing the East : white women and American orientalism|author-link1=Mari Yoshihara|last=Yoshihara|first=Mari|date=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780198033233|location=Oxford|oclc=57365434}}</ref> On a visit to America, she brought with her Chinese word pictures that she translated into English, which Lowell turned into rhymed poetry.<ref name=":0" />
=== Publications === Her first book, ''Fir-Flower Tablets'', with Amy Lowell, was a translation of poems from the Chinese. ''A Chinese Mirror'', published in 1925, was an analysis of the structure of Chinese society government, in particular the symbolism of the [[Forbidden City|Beijing imperial palaces]]. She published ''Tu Fu, the Autobiography of a Chinese Poet'' in 1929; her translations of the poems of [[Tu Fu]], with a biography constructed using his poetry. In 1934 she published ''Travels of a Chinese Poet''. These two works contributed to the introduction of Tu Fu to the British public. Ayscough wrote two books intended for younger readers; ''The Autobiography of a Chinese Dog'', an account of Shanghai from the perspective of her Pekingese dog Yo-fei,<ref name=":5">{{Citation|last=Pearlstein|first=Elinor|title=The Way We Were: Florence Wheelock Ayscough (1878–1942)|url=http://www.artic.edu/sites/default/files/AAC_fall2013_0.pdf|work=Asian Art Council Newsletter|date=2013}}</ref> and ''Fire-Cracker Land.'' Her final work, ''Chinese Women Yesterday and To-day'', published in 1937, examined contemporary Chinese women leaders as successors of a long line of capable, though secluded, Chinese women.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Hosie|first=Dorothea|date=1943|title=Florence Ayscough MacNair|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society|language=en|volume=75|issue=1–2|pages=119–120|doi=10.1017/S0035869X00098221|issn=1474-0591|doi-access=free}}</ref>
Ayscough also contributed articles to ''[[The Encyclopaedia Sinica]]''.<ref name=":1" />
== Personal life == Ayscough's first husband was British importer Francis Ayscough, whom she met after moving back to Shanghai, China.<ref name=":0" /> As a young bride in Shanghai, she decided to learn to speak and read Mandarin.<ref name=":3" /> Her husband died in 1933 after a long illness.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> Following his death she dedicated a stained glass window (the St Francis window, in the north wall of the sanctuary) at St James the Great church in [[Cradley, Herefordshire|Cradley]], [[Herefordshire]], where the Revd Thomas Ayscough had been rector from 1892 to 1917.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{cite web|title=St James the Great|website=explorechurches.org|url=https://www.explorechurches.org/church/st-james-great-cradley|access-date=22 March 2021|archive-date=5 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305074915/https://www.explorechurches.org/church/st-james-great-cradley|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Ayscough married her second husband, sinologist [[Harley Farnsworth MacNair]], in 1935.<ref name=":1" /> Ayscough named their homes in Chicago in traditional Chinese fashion; "Wild Goose Happiness House", and "House of the Wutung Trees" after the painting by [[Ren Bonian|Ren Yi]] in their collection.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" />
Ayscough enjoyed sailing, swimming, theatre and music, and was a member of the [[English-Speaking Union|English Speaking Union]].<ref name=":1" /> As a child she developed an interest in horses and developed into a capable horsewoman.<ref name=":2" /> In addition to Mandarin, she spoke fluent French and German.<ref name=":3" />
In 1941, Ayscough was admitted to the Chicago Osteopathic Hospital, where she died on 26 April 1942 after a long illness.<ref name=":0" /> Her memorial service was held at Chicago's First Unitarian Church, conducted by Dr. Von Ogden Vogt.<ref name=":2" /> She was buried at [[Forest Hills Cemetery]] in [[Jamaica Plain]], Massachusetts.<ref name=":4" />
=== Legacy === After her death, Ayscough's correspondence with her friend, the poet [[Amy Lowell]], was compiled and published by her husband Professor Harley Farnsworth MacNair.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hillbrook|first=R|date=1946|title=Florence ayscough and amy lowell|journal=Current History|volume=10|pages=445}}</ref> The following year he published a biography of his wife titled ''The Incomparable Lady''.<ref name=":0" /> He donated her collection of 1,292 Chinese-language books to the [[Library of Congress]].<ref name=":2" />
== References == {{Reflist}} {{authority control}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayscough, Florence}} [[Category:American expatriates in China]] [[Category:American sinologists]] [[Category:American women academics]] [[Category:Chinese–English translators]] [[Category:University of Chicago faculty]] [[Category:Writers from Shanghai]] [[Category:1942 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American women writers]] [[Category:20th-century American writers]] [[Category:Educators from Shanghai]] [[Category:1875 births]]