Zhang Xianliang

{{Short description|Chinese author and poet (1936–2014)}} {{Infobox writer  | name = Zhang Xianliang | birth_date = 8 December 1936 | birth_place = [[Nanking]], [[Republic of China (1912-49)]] | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2014|09|27|1936|12|8}} | death_place = [[Yinchuan]], [[Ningxia]], China | occupation = novelist, essayist, and poet }} '''Zhang Xianliang''' ({{zh|c=张贤亮}}; December 1936 – 27 September 2014) was a Chinese novelist, essayist, and poet, and former president of the Chinese Writers Association in [[Ningxia]]. He was detained as a political prisoner during the [[Anti-Rightist Movement]] in 1957,<ref>John Litweiler, [https://www.chicagotribune.com/1995/09/24/chairman-maos-insidious-legacy/ 'Chairman Mao's Insidious Legacy"], Chicago Tribune, 24 September 1995.</ref> until his political rehabilitation in 1979. His most well known works, including ''Half of Man is Woman'' and ''[[Grass Soup]]'', were semi-autobiographical reflections on his life experiences in prison and in witnessing the political upheaval of China during the [[Cultural Revolution]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Love amidst terror: A beautiful political novel about Mao's China |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB36DF39DD62CF2&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=14 August 1988 |access-date=13 May 2010 |archive-date=9 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609035657/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB36DF39DD62CF2&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Life== Zhang Xianliang was born in 1936 into an upper-middle-class family in [[Nanjing]], then the capital of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]. His father was a [[Kuomintang]] official and industrialist who managed a number of companies. Following the [[Chinese Revolution (1949)|Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War]], Zhang's father was accused of espionage, and later died in prison.<ref>Sybesma, Rint. [http://cin.sagepub.com/content/8/4/52.extract Literature, Business and the "Cultural Revolution": An Update on Zhang Xianliang] ''China Information''. Vol. VIII, No. 4, Spring 1994</ref>

Zhang began publishing poetry at the age of 13. During the [[Anti-Rightist Movement]], his poetry was criticized as counter-revolutionary, and Zhang was sent to a labor camp in [[Ningxia]] at age 21.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1080/03064229108535208| title = The labour camp memoirs of Zhang Xianliang| journal = Index on Censorship| volume = 20| issue = 9| pages = 31–33| year = 1991| last1 = Gittings | first1 = J.| doi-access = free}}</ref> He was subsequently detained several more times, and ultimately spent 22 years in prisons and labor camps. During the events of the [[Tiananmen Square protests of 1989]], he expressed sympathy with the protesting students, resulting in the ban of his work ''Getting Used to Dying'' until 1993.

Since his release from prison, Zhang has served as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and in 1992 he founded the West China Film Studio in [[Zhenbeibu]], Ningxia, a former [[Qing Dynasty]] fort. The studio has served as the shooting location for several films such as ''[[Ashes of Time]]'' and ''[[A Chinese Odyssey]]''.<ref>[http://www.china.org.cn/china/Ningxia/2008-07/08/content_15973062.htm Selling desolation to the world] China.org.cn July 21, 2008</ref> He died on 27 September 2014.

==Works== *''Mimosa'' (1985) <ref name=Link>{{cite news |title=Rebels, Victims and Apologists |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/06/books/rebels-victims-and-apologists.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=3 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=6 July 1986 |access-date=13 May 2010 | first=Perry | last=Link}}</ref> - [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/13647036 English translation] (Panda Books, 1985) *''[[Grass Soup]]'' (1995) <ref>{{cite news |title=Where careless thought cost lives |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/book-review--where-careless-thought-cost-lives-grass-soup--zhang-xianliang-secker-999-1434571.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/book-review--where-careless-thought-cost-lives-grass-soup--zhang-xianliang-secker-999-1434571.html |archive-date=2022-05-07 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=[[The Independent]] |date=8 May 1994 |access-date=13 May 2010 | location=London | first=Ian | last=Buruma | author-link = Ian Buruma}}{{cbignore}}</ref> - English translation by Martha Avery (David R. Godine, 1995) *''[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/22626246 Half of Man is Woman]'' (1985) - English translation by Martha Avery (Viking, 1988) * ''[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/877546896 Getting Used to Dying]'' (1991) - English translation by Martha Avery (Flamingo, 1991) * ''[https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/9910567913506421 My Bodhi Tree]'' (1994) - English translation by Martha Avery (Secker and Warburg, 1996)

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Xianliang}} [[Category:1936 births]] [[Category:2014 deaths]] [[Category:Chinese autobiographers]] [[Category:Writers from Nanjing]] [[Category:Prisoners and detainees of China]] [[Category:Chinese male short story writers]] [[Category:Poets from Jiangsu]] [[Category:20th-century Chinese poets]] [[Category:20th-century Chinese novelists]] [[Category:International Writing Program alumni]] [[Category:Chinese male novelists]] [[Category:20th-century Chinese short story writers]] [[Category:20th-century Chinese male writers]] [[Category:Short story writers from Jiangsu]]