{{Short description|Chinese writer}} {{Infobox writer |name=Ru Zhijuan |language=Chinese |birth_place=[[Shanghai]], [[Republic of China (1912–49)|Republic of China]] |birth_date={{birth date|1925|10|30}} |death_place=Shanghai, [[China|People's Republic of China]] |death_date={{death date and age|1998|10|7|1925|10|30}} |notableworks="Lilies" (1958) |spouse=Wang Xiaoping (王啸平) |children=3, including [[Wang Anyi]] |module={{Infobox Chinese|child=yes|s={{linktext|茹|志|鹃}}|t={{linktext|茹|志|鵑}}|p=Rú Zhìjuān|w=Ju<sup>2</sup> Chih<sup>4</sup>-chüan<sup>1</sup>}} }} {{family name hatnote|[[Ru (surname)|Ru]]|lang=Chinese}} '''Ru Zhijuan''' ([[Wade–Giles]]: '''Ju Chih-chüan''', 30 October 1925 – 7 October 1998) was a Chinese writer best known for her short stories.<ref name=history>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S7C9xtFKGWEC&pg=PA133 |title=A History of Contemporary Chinese Literature |pages=133–35 |year=2007 |isbn=978-9004157545 |last=Hong |first=Zicheng|publisher=BRILL }}</ref> Ru was one of the most important writers of her generation.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Reading the Modern Chinese Short Story |last=Hegel |first=Robert E. |chapter=Political Integration in Ru Zhijuan's 'Lilies' |editor-last=Huters |editor-first=Theodore |year=1990 |publisher=[[M.E. Sharpe]] |pages=92–104 |isbn=0-87332-572-9}}</ref> Her second daughter [[Wang Anyi]] is also a famous writer.

==Biography== Ru Zhijuan, the youngest of 5 children, was born in [[Shanghai]] to migrants from [[Hangzhou]]. When she was 3, her mother died and her father left; she and a brother were raised by their grandmother. She did not begin primary school until age 10, and a year later moved to Hangzhou with her grandmother, who died shortly after. She was sent to an orphanage in Shanghai. After a year each at a women's vocational school, a Christian missionary boarding school for girls, and a county school, she graduated from secondary school with only four years of schooling. She taught school for a short time in 1943 before joining the propaganda division of the [[New Fourth Army]]. In 1944, she married Wang Xiaoping, who was born in [[Singapore]] but arrived in China to fight the Japanese during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]]. In 1947, she joined the [[Chinese Communist Party]].

In 1955, she became the editor of the ''Monthly for Literature and Art'',<ref name="bio" /> retiring in 1960 to write full-time.<ref name="atoz" />

In 1960, Ru published ''All Quiet in the Maternity Clinic'', which was republished in a collection of the same name in 1962 and which received significant literary attention and analysis.<ref name=":Kindler2">{{Cite book |last=Kindler |first=Benjamin |title=Writing to the Rhythm of Labor: Cultural Politics of the Chinese Revolution, 1942-1976 |date=2025 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-21932-7 |location=New York City, NY}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=138}} Its setting in the maternity clinic of a [[people's commune]] was notable for being an uncommon site in other labor narratives of the period.<ref name=":Kindler2" />{{Reference page|page=138}} The short story depicts the arrival of Sister He, a modern-trained midwife from the city, and Auntie Tan, and older midwife at the clinic.<ref name=":Kindler2" />{{Reference page|page=138}} Largely narrated from Auntie Tan's perspective, ''All Quiet in the Maternity Clinic''<nowiki/>'s narrative addresses the tensions and disagreements between the two nurses, with Auntie Tan's life experience in pre-liberation China resulting in her skepticism of Sister He's modern methods.<ref name=":Kindler2" />{{Reference page|page=138}}

The 1958 short story "Lilies" was criticized by some for its "bourgeois sentimentality"<ref name=atoz/> but became popular after it was praised by Minister of Culture and author [[Mao Dun]]. Many of her stories of this period were intended to show popular support for the revolution and the communist party. She also dealt with the changes in Chinese society from traditional values. She did not publish any work from 1962 to 1965, because it was felt at the time that her work dealt with the worries of everyday people rather than more important issues.<ref name=bio/>

She regained favour when the values from the [[Cultural Revolution]] were being reconsidered. They are generally critical of earlier policies and promote the new social norms.<ref name=bio>{{Cite book |title=Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: The Twentieth Century, 1912-2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XOGdnCPJSOMC&pg=PA432 |pages=432–34 |isbn=0765607980 |year=2003 |last=Lee |first=Lily Xiao Hong| publisher=M.E. Sharpe }}</ref>

She served as [[Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary]] for the Shanghai Writer's Association. She died in Shanghai at the age of 73.<ref name=atoz>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bkJ1QrAxZAAC&pg=PA161 |title=The A to Z of Modern Chinese Literature |pages=161–62 |year=2010 |isbn=978-1461731870 |last=Ying |first=Li-hua|publisher=Scarecrow Press }}</ref>

Her daughter [[Wang Anyi]] also became a prominent writer.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Tu |first=Hang |title=Sentimental Republic: Chinese Intellectuals and the Maoist Past |publisher=[[Harvard University Asia Center]] |year=2025 |isbn=9780674297579}}</ref>{{Rp|page=147}}

==Works translated into English== {| class="wikitable" style="height: 100px" |- !Year!!Chinese title!!Translated English title!!Translator(s) |- |rowspan=4|1958||rowspan=4|百合花||"The Lilies on a Comforter"<ref>{{Cite book |title=Literature of the People's Republic of China |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |year=1980 |isbn=0-253-16015-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/literatureofpeop00hsukrich}}</ref>||Kai-yu Hsu |- |rowspan=3|"Lilies"||R. A. Roberts<ref>{{Cite book |title=One Half of the Sky: Stories from Contemporary Women Writers of China |publisher=[[Heinemann (publisher)|Heinemann]] |isbn=0-434-64038-7 |year=1987}}</ref> |- |[[Robert E. Hegel]]<ref>{{Cite book |title=Reading the Modern Chinese Short Story |year=1990 |publisher=[[M.E. Sharpe]] |isbn=0-87332-572-9}}</ref> |- |style="border-bottom:none;"|&nbsp; |- |rowspan=4|1959||澄河边上||"On the Banks of the Cheng"||style="border-top:none; border-bottom:none;"|[[Gladys Yang]]<ref name=lilies>{{Cite book |last=Ru Zhijuan |title=Lilies and Other Stories |year=1985 |publisher=[[Chinese Literature (magazine)|Chinese Literature]] |isbn=0-8351-1332-9}}</ref>

|- |rowspan=2, style="border-bottom:none;"|春暖时节 |rowspan=2, style="border-bottom:none;"|"The Warmth of Spring" |style="border-top:none;"|&nbsp; |- |Sabina Knight<ref>{{Cite book |title=Writing Women in Modern China: The Revolutionary Years, 1936–1976 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=0-231-13216-6}}</ref> |- |如愿||"A Promise Is Kept"<ref>{{Cite book |title=Sowing the Clouds: A Collection of Chinese Short Stories |publisher=[[Foreign Languages Press]] |year=1961}}</ref>||Yu Fanqin |- |1960||静静的产院||"The Maternity Home"<ref name=lilies/>||Tang Sheng |- |rowspan=4|1961||三走严庄||"A Third Visit to Yanzhuang"<ref name=lilies/>||Qin Sheng |- |同志之间||"Comradeship"<ref name=lilies/>||[[Gladys Yang]] |- |阿舒||"Just a Happy-Go-Lucky Girl"<ref name=lilies/>||Wen Xue |- |在那东海边上||"Between Two Seas"<ref name=lilies/>||rowspan=2|Zhang Su |- |1962||第二步||"The Beginning of Tomorrow"<ref>''[[Chinese Literature (magazine)|Chinese Literature]]'', April 1962.</ref> |- |rowspan=3|1979||rowspan=2|剪辑错了的故事||"A Story Out of Sequence"<ref>{{Cite book |title=Prize Winning Stories from China, 1978–1979 |url=https://archive.org/details/prizewinningstor0000liux |url-access=registration |year=1981 |publisher=[[Foreign Languages Press]]}}</ref>||Tian Fan, [[John Minford]] |- |"A Badly Edited Story"<ref name=lilies/>||Wang Mingjie |- |草原上的小路||"The Path Through the Grassland"<ref name=lilies/>||Yu Fanqin |- |rowspan=3|1980||rowspan=2|儿女情||"Sons and Successors"<ref>{{Cite book |title=The New Realism: Writings from China After the Cultural Revolution |year=1983 |publisher=[[Hippocrene Books]] |isbn=0-88254-794-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/newrealismwritin0000unse}}</ref>||Ellen Klempner |- |"My Son, My Son"<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Rose Colored Dinner: New Works by Contemporary Chinese Women Writers |year=1988 |publisher=[[Joint Publishing]] |isbn=962-04-0615-X}}</ref>||Nancy Lee |- |我写〈百合花〉的经过||"How I Came to Write 'Lilies on a Comforter'"<ref>{{Cite book |title=Furrows: Peasants, Intellectuals, and the State: Stories and Histories from Modern China |year=1990 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=0-8047-1805-9|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/furrowspeasantsi0000unse}}</ref>||John Balcom |}

==Filmography== {|class="wikitable sortable" |- !Year !English title !Chinese title !class="unsortable"|Notes |- |1960||''Their Wishes''||她们的心愿||Segment 3: "Just Mention Your Need" (只要你说一声需要) |- |1961||''Spring Hastens the Blossoms Blooming''||春催桃李||Co-wrote with [[Ai Mingzhi]] |}

==Major awards== *1980: 2nd National Short Story Prize, "A Story Out of Sequence" ("A Badly Edited Story")

==References== {{reflist}}

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{{Rouran rulers}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ru, Zhijuan}} [[Category:1925 births]] [[Category:1998 deaths]] [[Category:Short story writers from Shanghai]] [[Category:20th-century Chinese women writers]] [[Category:International Writing Program alumni]] [[Category:Chinese women short story writers]] [[Category:Chinese women essayists]] [[Category:20th-century Chinese short story writers]] [[Category:20th-century Chinese essayists]]