Wu Chuo-liu

{{Short description|Taiwanese journalist and novelist}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Wu Chuo-liu | honorific_suffix = | image =  | image_upright = | landscape =  | alt =  | caption = | native_name = 吳濁流 | native_name_lang = zh | pronunciation = | birth_name = Wu Jiantian | birth_date = 28 June 1900 | birth_place = Shimpu, Shinchiku, Japanese Taiwan | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1976|10|07|1900|06|28}} | death_place = | death_cause = | body_discovered = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | burial_place =  | burial_coordinates =  | monuments = | nationality = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = Taiwan Governor's Office Japanese School | occupation = | years_active = | era = | employer = | organization = | agent =  | known_for = | notable_works =  | style = | height =  | television = | title =  | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | criminal_charge =  | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = | spouse =  | children = | mother =  | father =  | relatives = | family = | callsign = | awards = | website =  | module = | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | footnotes = }}

'''Wu Chuo-liu''' ({{zh|c=吳濁流|p=Wú Zhuóliú}}), born '''Wu Jiantian''' ({{lang|zh|吳建田}}) (2 June 1900, Shimpu, Shinchiku – 7 October 1976, Taipei?) was an influential Taiwanese journalist and novelist of Hakka ancestry. He has been described as the most powerful witness to history in Taiwanese letters.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|date=2015-08-31|title=【民報】人物／冒生命危險創作一代文學巨人吳濁流|url=https://www.peoplenews.tw/news/e3a9cdeb-68d7-4b37-8675-ba3fdff722d4|access-date=2020-08-29|website=www.peoplenews.tw|language=zh-TW}}</ref> Many of his most important novels were first written in Japanese.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|title=節目 - 吳濁流與《台灣文藝》|url=https://www.rti.org.tw/radio/programMessageView/id/52446|access-date=2020-08-30|website=Rti 中央廣播電臺|language=zh}}</ref>

==Life and work== [[File:Wu Zhuo-liou Art and Cultural Center.JPG|thumb|Wu Chuo-liu Art and Cultural Hall]] His family was long established in Shimpu in what is now called Hsinchu County. His grandfather, Wu Fang-hsin, was a well-known traditional poet. He began with a standard Chinese education but, due to the Japanese rule, most of his studies were conducted in the Japanese manner. In 1916, he was admitted to the "{{ill|Taiwan Governor's Office Japanese School|zh|臺灣總督府國語學校}}". In 1919, he visited Japan for the first time on a school trip that lasted 18 days—it was an eye opener.<ref name="auto"/> He graduated in 1920 and became a teacher in the public schools.

After publishing an article called "School and Autonomy", he was labeled a radical by the Japanese government and transferred to a village school in Byōritsu District. In 1927, he joined the {{ill|Kurisha Poetry Society|zh|栗社}}, a group that would produce some of Taiwan's best known modern poets. Ten years later, he managed to secure an appointment as "{{ill|Chief Disciplinarian|zh|訓導}}" of the schools in Kansai, Shinchiku, but he resigned in 1940, following an incident in which the teachers were insulted by the Japanese authorities.

In 1941, he went to China and worked as a reporter in Nanking for ''Mainland'' ''News'' (大陸新聞).<ref name="auto"/> He stayed in China for 15 months and returned home in 1943 and took a position with the ''Taiwan Daily News''. These experiences served as the inspiration for his most famous work, ''Orphan of Asia'', a semi-autobiographical account of the experiences of a fictional protagonist named Hu Taiming ({{lang|zh|胡太明}}) during the course of the colonial period. This work, which highlighted the ambiguity and tension inherent in being Taiwanese, has since become a key text in the contentious subject of Taiwanese identity. He is also known for his autobiography ''The Fig Tree'' ({{lang|zh|無花果}}).

After the war, he continued his journalistic work at the ''{{ill|People's Daily (Taiwan)|zh|民報 (1945年)|lt=People's Daily}}'', but the political repression that followed the February 28 incident of 1947 forced him to abandon this line of work for seven years. During that time, he served as director of the {{ill|Tatung Senior High School|zh|臺北市私立大同高級中學}}.

In 1964, Wu was one of the founders of the magazine ''{{ill|Taiwan Literature and Art|zh|台灣文藝 (吳濁流)}}'', which served as a starting point for many of Taiwan's young aspiring writers. At that time though, emphasizing Taiwanese identity was still politically controversial and Wu was pressured by the authorities to drop 'Taiwan' from the title of his magazine. He demurred: "what I want to promote is Taiwan native literature and arts. Drop 'Taiwan' [from the title] and the whole venture loses its meaning".<ref name="auto1"/> The title stayed.

In 1969, using money from his own pension, Wu established the Taiwan Literature Award (台灣文學獎) – it was later renamed the {{ill|Wu Chuo-liu Literary Award|zh|吳濁流文學獎}}.<ref name="auto1"/> It remains one of Taiwans's prestigious literary awards to this day.

He died in 1976, following a brief illness.

==Bibliography== * {{cite book |last1=Wu|first1=Zhuoliu |script-title=ja:アジアの孤児 |title=Ajia no koji |language=ja |trans-title=Orphan of Asia |date=1956|publisher=一二三書房 |location=Tōkyō |oclc=80018391 }} ** {{cite book | last = Wu | first = Zhuoliu | title = Orphan of Asia | translator-last = Mentzas | translator-first = Ioannis | publisher = Columbia University Press | location = New York | year = 2008 | isbn = 9780231137263 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/orphanofasia00wuzh }} * {{cite book |last=Wu |first=Zhuoliu |script-title=zh:無花果 |title=Wu hua guo |language=zh |date=1970 |publisher=林白出版社 |location=Taipei |oclc=50775839}} ** {{cite book | last = Wu | first = Zhuoliu | title = The Fig Tree: Memoirs of a Taiwanese Patriot | translator-last = Hunter | translator-first = Duncan | publisher = AuthorHouse | location = Bloomington | year = 2002 | isbn = 9781403321503 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/figtreememoirsof00wuzh }}

==References== {{reflist}} {{refbegin}} * {{Cite book|title=Becoming "Japanese": Colonial Taiwan and the Politics of Identity Formation|last=Ching|first=Leo T. S.|publisher=University of California Press| year=2001|location=Berkeley|isbn=0-520-22551-1 }} *{{cite news|author1=Han Cheung |date=26 Jun 2016 |title=Orphans of a 'twisted history' |work=Taipei Times|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2016/06/26/2003649477|page=12}} * {{cite book |editor-last1=Wang |editor-first1=David Der-wei |editor-last2=Rojas |editor-first2=Carlos |title=Writing Taiwan : A New Literary History |date=2006|publisher=Duke University Press|location=Durham|isbn=0-8223-3851-3 }} {{refend}}

==External links== *[http://wuzhuoliu.blogspot.tw/ WU ZHUOLIU ARCHIVE] by [http://rchss.nchu.edu.tw/ Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712113407/http://rchss.nchu.edu.tw/ |date=2015-07-12 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Zhouliu}} Category:20th-century Taiwanese poets Category:Hakka writers Category:Taiwanese people of Hakka descent Category:People from Hsinchu County Category:20th-century Taiwanese educators Category:Taiwanese male novelists Category:1900 births Category:1976 deaths Category:20th-century Taiwanese novelists Category:Taiwanese schoolteachers Category:20th-century Taiwanese male writers Category:Taiwanese journalists

Wu Chuo-liu

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