Xu Zhongyu: Difference between revisions

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== Biography ==

Xu Zhongyu was born on 15 February 1915<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/book/2019-06/26/c_1210170132.htm|title=他编写的《大学语文》影响几代人|last=Shi Chenlu 施晨露|first=|date=2019-06-26|website=Xinhua|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2019-06-27}}</ref> in [[Jiangyin]], [[Jiangsu]], Republic of China.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://news.gmw.cn/2019-06/26/content_32947898.htm|title=徐中玉教授在上海逝世 享年105岁|last=|first=|date=2019-06-26|website=Guangming Daily|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2019-06-26}}</ref> He graduated from the Department of Chinese of [[National Central University]] in 1939, and the graduate school of [[Sun Yat-sen University]] in 1941.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.singtao.ca/3562630/2019-06-26/post-%e3%80%8c%e5%a4%a7%e5%ad%b8%e8%aa%9e%e6%96%87%e4%b9%8b%e7%88%b6%e3%80%8d-%e7%99%be%e6%ad%b2%e5%be%90%e4%b8%ad%e7%8e%89%e9%80%9d%e4%b8%96/?variant=zh-hk|title=「大學語文之父」 百歲徐中玉逝世|last=|first=|date=2019-06-26|website=Sing Tao Daily|language=zh-TW|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2019-06-26}}</ref>

In 1952, Xu became a professor in the Department of Chinese of [[East China Normal University]] in Shanghai. After the [[Cultural Revolution]], Xu was appointed Chair of the Department of Chinese. Together with {{ill|Kuang Yaming|zh|匡亚明}}, then president of [[Nanjing University]], he advocated the restoration of the university Chinese course requirement, which had been abolished in 1952. He oversaw the compilation of the textbook ''University Chinese'' (大学语文), published in 1981. It has become the standard textbook in Chinese universities, and by the time of his death in 2019, 30 million copies of the book had been printed.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2019/06/25/595566.html|title=学生悼念徐中玉：学术讨论，从不干涉学生想法|author=Zhou Shiling 周世玲|date=2019-06-25|website=The Beijing News}}</ref>

As the Chair of Chinese at East China Normal University, Xu encouraged students to engage in creative writing and publishing. He initiated the reform that allowed students of the Chinese Department to submit their literary works as an alternative to the required graduation thesis.<ref name=":2" /> This made the university a hotbed of Chinese literature.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> A number of Xu's students, including {{ill|Zhao Lihong (writer)|zh|赵丽宏|lt=Zhao Lihong}}, Sun Yong 孙颙, and Nan Fan 南帆, Wang Xiaoying 王小鹰, [[Chen Danyan]], Mao Shi'an 毛时安, and Chen Bohai 陈伯海, became well known writers.<ref name=":3" /> Zhao submitted his poetry collection as his graduation work, while Sun published ''Winter'', one of the first major novels in the post-Cultural Revolution era, and Nan had his university homework published in one of the literary journals that Xu edited.<ref name=":2" />

Xu's major works include ''Exploring the Heritage of Lu Xun'' (魯迅遺產探索), ''A Treatise on the Creation of Ancient Literature and Art'' (古代文藝創作論).<ref name=":1" /> In December 2014, Xu received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the 6th Shanghai Literature and Arts Awards.<ref name=":0" /> When he was 100, he donated his savings of 1 million yuan to establish a scholarship at East China Normal University, as well as his collection of 50,000 books.<ref name=":3" />

Xu died on 25 June 2019 at [[Huadong Hospital]] in Shanghai, at the age of 104.<ref name=":0" />