# Yuan Changying

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{{Short description|Chinese writer (1894–1973)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2026}}
{{Family name hatnote|Yuan|lang=Chinese}}
{{Infobox person/Wikidata|fetchwikidata=ALL|dateformat=dmy}}
'''Yuan Changying''' ([Chinese](/source/Chinese_language):袁昌英; 11 October 1894 – 28 April 1973) was a Chinese writer.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=2023-02-06 |title=Yuan Changying |url=https://www.ed.ac.uk/global/uncovered/1920s/yuan-changying |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=The University of Edinburgh |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last=Guo |first=Li |date=2013 |editor-last=Fong |editor-first=Grace S. |editor2-last=Widmer |editor2-first=Ellen |editor3-last=Haiping |editor3-first=Yan |editor4-last=Dooling |editor4-first=Amy |title=Negotiating the Traditional and the Modern: Chinese Women's Literature from the Late Imperial Period through the Twentieth Century |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43653372 |journal=Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=195–220 |jstor=43653372 |issn=0732-7730}}</ref> She was the first Chinese woman to graduate from the [University of Edinburgh](/source/University_of_Edinburgh) and the first Chinese woman to be a [Master's student](/source/Master's_student) in Britain.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":5" /> She is best known for her collection of plays - ''Southeast Flies the Peacock.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":8" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":9" />''

== Personal life ==
On 11 October 1894, Yuan Changying was born in the city of [Liling](/source/Liling) in [Hunan](/source/Hunan).<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":8" /> Her father Yuan Jiapu was educated at [Waseda University](/source/Waseda_University).<ref name=":4" /> Yuan's mother died when Yuan was young.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Yan |first=Haiping |title=Chinese Women Writers and the Feminist Imagination, 1905-1948 |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=9780415474580}}</ref> Her father remarried and had a son and another daughter.<ref name=":9" /> Yuan married Chinese [economist](/source/economist) Yang Duanliu (杨端六) who she met when he was studying at the [University of London](/source/University_of_London).<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=The three Musketeers of Luojia-Wuhan University |url=https://en.whu.edu.cn/info/1050/3154.htm |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=en.whu.edu.cn}}</ref> After graduating from University of Edinburgh in 1921, Yuan returned to China with Yang.<ref name=":4" /> In February 1923 in [Changsha](/source/Changsha), Yuan gave birth to their daughter Yang Jingyuan (杨静远).<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |title=《彼得潘》译者杨静远去世 享年92岁 |url=https://www.sohu.com/a/www.sohu.com/a/18734586_123753 |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=www.sohu.com }}{{Dead link|date=November 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> Later on, Yuan gave birth to their son Yang Hongyuan (杨弘远).<ref name=":11" />

== Education ==
In 1916, Yuan started attending [Blackheath High School](/source/Blackheath_High_School) in [London](/source/London).<ref name=":4" /> From 1916 to 1921, Yuan studied at the University of Edinburgh, where she earned a [Master's Degree](/source/Master's_degree) in [English drama](/source/English_drama) and [literature](/source/English_literature).<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Welland |first=Sasha Su-Ling |title=A thousand miles of dreams: the journeys of two Chinese sisters |date=2006 |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7425-5313-2 |series=American voices |location=Lanham (Md.) |pages=229–231}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Joubin |first=Alexa Alice |title=Chinese Shakespeares: two centuries of cultural exchange |date=2009 |publisher=Columbia Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-231-14848-1 |series=Global chinese culture |location=New York, NY |pages=114 |language=en}}</ref> Her master's thesis was about [William Shakespeare](/source/William_Shakespeare)’s [Hamlet](/source/Hamlet).<ref name=":4" />

== Career ==
In 1922, she started teaching women at [Beijing Normal University](/source/Beijing_Normal_University).<ref name=":4" />

In 1928, Yuan became a professor at [Wuhan University](/source/Wuhan_University) in the School of Chinese Language and Literature.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Department of English-武汉大学外国语言文学学院 |url=https://fls.whu.edu.cn/ywb/About_Us/About_the_Departments/Department_of_English.htm |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=fls.whu.edu.cn}}</ref> While at Wuhan University, she worked and befriended [Su Xuelin](/source/Su_Xuelin) and [Ling Shuhua](/source/Ling_Shuhua) and the three of them were known together as the "Three Female Talents of Luojia Mountain,"<ref name=":5" /> the "Three Heroines of Luojia,”<ref name=":4" /> or "The Three Musketeers of Luojia."<ref name=":6" /> She also taught at the [China University of Political Science and Law](/source/China_University_of_Political_Science_and_Law).<ref>Jos Schyns, Su Hsueh-Lin, and Chao Yen-Sheng eds., ''1500 Modern Chinese Novels & Plays'' (Ridgewood: The Gregg Press, 1965), 116.</ref>

In 1930, she published ''Southeast Flies the Peacock'', which was a collection of Chinese plays in the "spoken drama" style instead of in an opera style.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> Yuan's nickname - "the peacock of Liling" - originated from her 1930 collection.<ref name=":6" /> In 1935, students at Wuhan University performed ''Southeast Flies the Peacock''.<ref name=":5" /> Yuan was also a part of a literary group called The Crescent Moon Society.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Literary societies of Republican China |date=2008 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-1933-4 |editor-last=Denton |editor-first=Kirk A. |location=Lanham, MD |pages=279 |editor-last2=Hockx |editor-first2=Michel}}</ref>

In 1931, she accused [Hong Shen](/source/Hong_Shen) of plagiarism in her article "Zhuang shi huangdi he Zhao yanwang."<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last=Luo |first=Liang |date=2015 |title=Reading Hong Shen Intermedially |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24886568 |journal=Modern Chinese Literature and Culture |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=208–248 |jstor=24886568 |issn=1520-9857}}</ref> Hong Shen would deny these accusations.<ref name=":10" />

Later in life, Yuan became a member of [Chinese Democratic League](/source/China_Democratic_League).<ref name=":4" />

== Death ==
In 1973, she died in [Liling](/source/Liling).<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":8" />

== Legacy ==
The University of Edinburgh honored Changying by naming The Yuan Changying Prize after her.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Gupta |first=Hemangini |date=19 May 2023 |title=Announcing the Yuan Changying Prize Winners 2023! |url=https://www.gender.ed.ac.uk/announcing-the-yuan-changing-prize-winners-2023/ |access-date=18 November 2023 |website=www.gender.ed.ac.uk}}</ref> The Yuan Changying Prize recognizes outstanding ‘gender observations’ written by undergraduate students in Edinburgh's "Understanding Gender in the Contemporary World" class.<ref name=":7" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1894 births
Category:1973 deaths
Category:People educated at Blackheath High School
Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Category:Academic staff of Wuhan University
Category:20th-century Chinese women writers
Category:20th-century Chinese dramatists and playwrights
Category:Chinese women academics
Category:People from Liling
Category:Shakespearean scholars

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Yuan Changying](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_Changying) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_Changying?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.