From birth to tragic final chapter — the life and times of a literary master

Lao She was born on Feb 3, 1899, and six years later began his education through private tutoring, which was paid for by a distant relative.

In 1913, Lao She was admitted to Beijing No 13 Middle School but dropped out due to poverty in his family. The same year, he was accepted to study at Beijing Normal School, which offered him free tuition and accommodation. He graduated in 1918.

Later that year, Lao She became one of the youngest headmasters of Fangjia Hutong Primary School after graduating from Beijing Normal School.

In the autumn of 1922, Lao She started teaching at Tianjin Nankai High School. The same year, he published a poem, New Voice Overseas, and a novel, Her Failure, under the name She Yu in a magazine founded by students studying in Japan.

In 1923, Lao She published the short story Xiao Ling’er in the Tianjin Nankai High School magazine under the name She Yu.

The following year, he went to the United Kingdom to teach under the recommendation of a priest, surnamed Evans, who had been sent by the London Missionary Society to teach in Beijing. From 1924 to 1928, the author began his literary career under the name Lao She while staying in London.

He wrote his first novel under this name, The Philosophy of Lao Zhang, in 1926.

Three years later, Lao She started teaching in Singapore, where he wrote the fairy tale Birthday of Xiao Po.

A year later, he accepted a professorship at the School of Arts at Cheeloo University in Jinan, Shandong province, and in 1934 he taught at Shandong University, also in Jinan.

In 1931, Lao She married Hu Jieqing. Their first daughter, Shu Ji, was born in 1933 in Jinan; their son, Shu Yi, was born in 1935 in Qingdao, Shandong; a second daughter, Shu Yu, was born in Qingdao in 1937; and their third daughter, Shu Li, was born in 1945 in Chongqing.

In 1946, Lao She visited the United States to lecture. During his stay, he finished his novel Four Generations

Under One Roof. He entrusted friends in the US with the translation of this and other works, such as Divorce,

Heaven Sent and Rickshaw Boy, into English. They were among the first Chinese novels and literary works introduced to Western readers. Lao She remained in the US until December 1949.

The following year, he was elected as the first chairman of the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles, a position he held for 16 years until his death.

In 1951, the Beijing municipal government awarded Lao She the title of Artist of the People.

Two years later, he was elected president of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

In 1957, he published the three-act play Teahouse, which was staged a year later by the Beijing People’s Art Theatre. It remains one of the theater’s most popular productions.

In 1966, Lao She committed suicide at Taiping Lake in Beijing.