Tian Han

Born on March 12, 1898 in Changsha, Hunan Province, Tian Han (Chinese: 田汉), also known as Tian Shouchang, adopted many pennames throughout his literary career, such as Bo Hong, Chen Yu, Shu Ren, and Han Xian.

In 1916, he studied English at Tokyo Normal College in Japan. Later, he joined the Youth China Association. In 1920, he published A Three-leaf Collection, consisting of letters he exchanged with Guo Moruo and Zong Baihua. When the Creation Society was established the following year, he was one of the founders along with Guo Moruo, Cheng Fangwu and Yu Dafu. After his return to China in 1922, he and his wife, Yi Shuyu, started the biweekly South China and the South China Performance Troupe, and wrote scripts and performed. Tian's plays, such as Night at a Cafe, The Night When a Tiger Is Captured, and Nocturnal Talks in Suzhou, written in his early days, are generally considered to be romantic. In 1927, when he was elected president of Shanghai Art University, he, along with Ouyang Yuqian and Zhou Xinfang, sponsored an opera contest. During the contest, his play The Death of a Famous Actor became a success for its realistic portrayal of the hardships suffered by theatrical performers. Later that year, both the South China Dramatic Company and the South China Arts School were established as a result of his efforts. The Company, while touring many cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Wuxi, stimulated later development of Chinese stage plays.

He was admitted to the China League of Left-Wing Writers in 1930 after publishing his "A Self-critique of Our Own", which states his evolution from romanticism to realism. But the South China Dramatic Company was forced to close at the end of that year. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1932 and also became secretary of the League of Left-Wing Dramatists and Stage Workers. Many of his creations, like "A Family Dinner at New Year 's Eve," "Disorderly Bell," and "The Death of Gu Zhenghong," remain a mirror of the hard times of the 1930s. Also a song writer, Tian wrote many pieces, including "A Song of Graduation" and "The volunteers' March", thus allowing him to be considered among the company of such influential musicians as Nie Er, Xian Xinghai, and Zhang Shu. The "March" was so popular with Chinese in the 1930s and 1940s that it became the national anthem of the People's Republic immediately after its founding. During the mid-1930s, he also engaged in film production. His Song of the Return of Spring, written in 1935, proved him to be as good as a scenarist as the renowned Xia Yan and Yang Hansheng. He was arrested by the Kuomintang government in the same year, but was set free in 1937.

During the War of Resistance against Japan, he took part in the national salvation drive and co-authored the stage play Marco Polo Bridge. Around the early 1940s, after a short stay in Wuhan, he became editor of The Dramatic Spring and Autumn, a monthly published in Guilin. Adapting a various operas from Beijing, Hubei, and Hunan to an anti-Japanese theme, he wrote The Fisherman's Song on the Yangtze and Yue Fei, the Chinese National Hero of All Time, among other scripts. In 1944, he con-sponsored with Ouyang Yuqian an exhibition of theater from southwest China in Guilin. After the war, he returned to Shanghai and wrote several new scripts, of which the most popular ones were Song of Beautiful Ladies and Reverie About the Southern Country, both exposes of contemporary evil and corruption. In 1948, he moved to north China, where he lived and worked in a liberated area.

He served on a committee for culture and education in the early 1950s under the new central government. Responsible for matters of art and literature, he acted as director of both the bureau of theater and the bureau of art affairs. Later, he became chairman of the Chinese Dramatists' Association and vice-chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. His later works include some historical plays, such as Guan Hanqing and Princess Wen Cheng. His adaptations from traditional operatic scripts, such as The White Snake and Xie Yaohuan, Lady Chamberlain to Empress Wu of the Tang Dynasty, were very popular. His A Rhapsody over the Ming Tomb reservoir was written in his later years. Tian Han died on December 10, 1968 in prison during the Cultural Revolution.

His main works include Night at a Cafe (1922), The Night When a Tiger Is Captured (1924), The Death of a Famous Actor (1929), "A Self-critique of Our Own" (1930), The Tragedy on the Lake (1931), Seven Women in Storm (1932), Song of the Return of Spring (1935), The Fisherman's Song on the Yangtze (1937), Song of Beautiful Ladies (1946), The White Snake (1956), Guan Hanqing (1958), Princes Wen Cheng (1960), and Xie Yaohuan, Lady Chamberlain to Empress Wu of the Tang Dynasty (1961)

References:

On Tian Han's Play Writing (1961)

"Tian Han and His Immense Contribution to Modern Chinese Drama" (1979)

Tian Han and Chinese Drama in the 20th Century (1980)

A Chronicle of Tian Han's Dramatical Activities (1981)

A Special Collection on Tian Han (1984)

Tian Han: Critical and Biographical Studies (1984)

Tian Han (1985)