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Wang Zengqi

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Wang Zengqi
Native name
汪曾琪
Born(1920-03-05)5 March 1920
Gaoyou, Jiangsu, China
Died16 May 1997(1997-05-16) (aged 77)
Beijing
OccupationWriter
NationalityPRC
Alma materNational Southwestern Associated University
Genre
Notable worksThe Love Story of a Young Monk, The Tale of the Big Nur
Notable awardsNational Short Fiction Award, 1981, The Tale of the Big Nur
SpouseShi Songqing (Chinese 施松卿)

Wang Zengqi (Chinese: 汪曾祺; pinyin: Wāng Zēngqí; 1920 – 1997) was a contemporary Chinese novelist, essayist and Peking Opera playwright.[1] He is known for his short stories and essays with an elegant style and content infused by both traditional literature and folklores of his hometown.[2] He was referred to as a "master stylist of modern Chinese", along with his literary mentor Shen Congwen.[3] He is regarded as a successor of the "Beijing School" heralded by Zhou Zuoren and Shen Congwen in the 1940s.[4]

Biography

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Former Residence of Wang Zengqi in Gaoyou.

Wang was born in a cultured landowner family in 1920 in Gaoyou, Jiangsu province. His grandfather amassed a decent amount of fortune operating farms and pharmacies. Wang’s father was a versatile hobbyist, a handyman, and a respected eye doctor by occupation. He was actively engaged in sports, musical instruments, painting, and crafts. Wang Zengqi was the family’s second child.[5]

In 1939, he enrolled into then National Southwestern Associated University. He took writing classes from Shen Congwen during his university years and started writing in 1940. He finished the first draft of "Revenge" (复仇).[6]

He should have graduated in 1943, however, the graduation was postponed to the next year since he failed PE and English. For unknown reason, he failed to obey the university's arrangement to act as an interpreter for the US army, so he didn't get his certificate eventually.[citation needed]

Later he became a teacher at a high school in Kunming from 1944 to 1946, where he met his future wife Shi Songqin (施松卿). From 1946 to 1948, he lived in Shanghai as a high school teacher. He moved to Beijing and got a temporary position at the Palace Museum in the spring of 1948.[7] He followed the Fourth Field Army to go to the southern as a civil cadre in the next year. He became an editor after being transferred to Beijing in 1950. He adapted the story of Fan Jin in Chapter 3 of The Scholars for the Peking opera and gained reputation in the 1950s, it also contributed to his being transferred to Beijing Peking Opera Theater in 1961.[citation needed]

He was targeted at the Anti-Rightist Campaign and was banished to Zhangjiakou until 1962. He suffered the plight again since the Culture Revolution began.[8] That reversed in 1968, since he was summoned by Jiang Qing to adapt a model opera (yangban xi) Spark amid the Reed, namely Shajiabang.[9][10]

Wang was passionate about food, delighting in the culinary traditions of every place he visited or called home. He enjoyed wandering through open farmers’ markets and took on the role of family chef, spending hours crafting special dishes for friends and guests.[11][12] This enthusiasm is also reflected in his many essays, such as The Food in My Home Town.

Wang died on May 16, 1997 in Beijing.[13]

Works

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Wang published his first volume of short stories in 1947, after studying with Shen Congwen at Southwest Associated University in Kunming during the Second Sino-Japanese War. During the following three decades of the Mao era and the Culture Revolution, he focused his creative energies on politicized model operas heralded by Jiang Qing. He began fiction writing again in 1980, when Deng Xiaoping brought the political and social reforms to remedy the aftermath of the Culture Revolution.[14]

During the final quarter of the twentieth century, Wang authored multiple essays and short stories that garnered critical acclaim.[15] His short stories are set in the places where he lived: his hometown of Gaoyou; Kunming, where he attended university; Zhangjiakou, where he underwent re-education as a “rightist”; and Beijing, where he has resided and worked since the 1950s. His characters include urban commoners, lower-class scholars, rural folks, and intellectuals. His narrative favours a natural, prose‑like flow over dramatic plotting, employing plain, restrained language accented with humour and elegance. This approach reflects the legacy of the “Beijing School” of the 1940s led by Zhou Zuoren and Shen Congwen.[16] His works portraying the rural life lyrically stimulated writers of roots-searching literature in the mid and late 1980s.[17][18]

Wang's 1980 story "Buddhist Initiation" (受戒) painted a beautiful, poetic, and nostalgic portrait of life before 1949, in sharp contrast to the Mao era literature which generally denounced the evils of China's "feudal" past. Wang's decision to portray Buddhist culture reflected an effort to expand literary topics and his unwillingness to place politics at the centre of his story writing. The story, to Wang's own surprise, was warmly received by readers in mainland China at its publication, and subsequently well accepted by readers and critics alike in Hong Kong and Taiwan, where several critics listed it among the best 100 stories of the past 100 years.[14]

Lin Jiang and Shi Jie conducted a contextual study of Wang Zengqi’s family background, upbringing, and education, linking these to his personality and literary themes. They observed that Wang Zengqi’s fiction blends the three great currents of Chinese thought—Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism—into stories that resonate with everyday experience. His characters often display Confucian virtues of resilience, moral integrity and a deep sense of duty and kindness toward family and community. At the same time, they live according to Daoist principles, finding joy in simple daily activities and remaining unburdened by status or material ambitions. Buddhist themes also surface throughout his work, as figures learn compassion over vengeance, confront the law of karma and cultivate a calm awareness of the present moment. Rooted in his Jiangsu childhood among folk customs and temple life, and inspired by Shen Congwen’s warm, lyrical depictions of rural China, Wang’s narratives celebrate ordinary people who balance active engagement with the world and serene acceptance of its uncertainties.[19]

Reception

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Yang Zao (杨早), a contemporary scholar of history and literature, regarded Wang as a modern‑day Su Dongpo, observing that Wang embodied the wisdom of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, and maintained an optimistic, humane outlook toward his fellow human beings and his circumstances.[20]

Hong Zicheng (洪子诚), a scholar of contemporary literature history, considers Wang one of the "the best authors" of his time. Unlike Ding Ling or Ai Qing whose creative output declined in their later years, Wang maintained a high level of creativity and artistic achievement throughout his career. Hong noted two distinctive qualities of Wang's work. First, his empathetic portrayal of the ordinary rural folk set against vividly rendered local landscape, his stories uncover human warmth and resilience without artifice. Second, his linguistic sensitivity—his prose is plain and measured yet resonant, blending classical allusion, vernacular speech, and folk idioms.[21]

Wang’s essays, short stories, poetry, and letters continue to enjoy widespread publication and readership, elevating him almost to “Internet celebrity” status. Although he is best known among contemporary urban fans for his light‑hearted essays on food, drink[22], travel, and daily life, he is not, as his eldest son Wang Lang emphasizes, a mere “chicken‑soup writer,” since he also tackled social issues and regarded such engagement as a writer’s duty.[1]

Selected works

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Short Stories

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  • Buddhist Initiation, or The Love Story of a Young Monk (Chinese: 受戒, Shoujie), 1980
  • A Tale of Big Nur (Chinese: 大淖记事; Da Nao Ji Shi), 1981
  • Special Gift (Chinese: 异秉, yibing), 1981
  • (Chinese: 皮凤三楦房子)
  • (Chinese: 岁寒三友)
  • (Chinese: 云致秋行状)
  • (Chinese: 讲用)
  • (Chinese: 故里三陈)
  • (Chinese: 水蛇腰)
  • (Chinese: 徙)
  • Revenge (Chinese: 复仇; Fu Chou), 1944
  • (Chinese: 羊舍一夕)
  • (Chinese: 鸡鸭名家)

References

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  1. ^ a b 毕楠. "Celebrating a modern story teller". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  2. ^ Zhang, Longxi (2023). A history of Chinese literature. London New York: Routledge. pp. 403, 413. ISBN 978-0-367-75828-8.
  3. ^ Mair, Victor H. (2001). The Columbia history of Chinese literature. New York: Columbia University press. p. 1057. ISBN 978-0-231-10984-0.
  4. ^ Sun, Yu (2023). "从京派到新京派" [From the "Beijing School" to the "New Beijing School"]. www.chinawriter.com.cn (中国作家网). Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  5. ^ Lu, Jianhua (2019). 汪曾祺传 [Biography of Wang Zengqi] (Di 1 ban ed.). Nanjing Shi: Jiangsu feng huang wen yi chu ban she. ISBN 978-7-5594-1824-1. OCLC 1140509184.
  6. ^ Chang (2010), pp. 577–578.
  7. ^ "汪曾祺在上海的教书经历--文史--中国作家网". www.chinawriter.com.cn. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  8. ^ "【汪曾祺逝世20周年】汪曾祺的"荒野岁月"". en.jiemian.com. 2017. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  9. ^ Encyclopedia of China, Vol. 22 (2nd edition, 中国大百科全书（第二版）第22册). Encyclopedia of China Publishing House. 2009. pp. 576–577. ISBN 978-7-500-07958-3.
  10. ^ Deng, Youmei. "漫忆汪曾祺". Free Forum of Literature (文学自由谈) (in Chinese). 1997 (5): 98–105.
  11. ^ "汪曾祺儿女讲述：我们的父亲真是个好老头儿". www.chinanews.com.cn. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  12. ^ "汪曾祺子女忆"老头儿"：常常心怀温情 偶尔拍案而起". thepaper.cn. 2021-10-12. Retrieved 2025-07-01.
  13. ^ "历史上的今天 | 当代作家汪曾祺逝世". www.sohu.com. 2021-05-16. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  14. ^ a b FitzGerald, Carolyn (2008). "Imaginary Sites of Memory: Wang Zengqi and Post-Mao Reconstructions of the Native Land". Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. 20 (1): 72–128. ISSN 1520-9857. JSTOR 41490991.
  15. ^ "Wang Zengqi 汪曾祺". www.cuhk.edu.hk. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  16. ^ Hong (2010), pp. 361–362.
  17. ^ Chang (2010), p. 654.
  18. ^ Hong (2010), p. 350.
  19. ^ Lin, Jiang; Shi, Jie (2017). "汪曾祺小说中的的儒道佛" [Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism in Wang Zengqi's fiction]. aisixiang.com. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  20. ^ Yang, Zao (March 1, 2020). "Wang Zengqi, the Su Dongpo of our time (in Chinese), 《汪曾祺：我们时代的苏东坡》". The Paper 澎湃新闻. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  21. ^ "洪子诚谈中国当代文学史" [Hong Zicheng on Contemporay Chinese Literature]. thepaper.cn. 2018-02-25. Retrieved 2025-06-30.
  22. ^ "Understanding Wang Zengqi's Subtle Art of Fiction: Is It Beyond Translation's Reach？". Edinburgh University Press Blog. 2025-01-20. Retrieved 2025-07-03.

Bibliography

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  • Chang, Kang-i Sun (2010). The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Volume II: From 1375. Shanghai: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85559-4.
  • FitzGerald, Carolyn. “Imaginary Sites of Memory: Wang Zengqi and Post-Mao Reconstructions of the Native Land.” Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, vol. 20, no. 1, 2008, pp. 72–128. JSTOR 41490991. Accessed 7 Dec. 2023.
  • Hong, Zicheng (2010). 中国当代文学史 (zhong guo dang dai wen xue shi) [History of Contemporary Chinese Literature] (in Chinese). Beijing: Peking University Press. ISBN 978-7-301-15373-4.

Further readings

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