TIAN HAN

born March 12, 1898, Ch'ang-sha, Hunan province, China died Dec. 10, 1968, Peking Wade-Giles T'ien Han, pseudonym of Tian Shouchang Chinese playwright and poet known for his expressive and powerful one-act plays. Tian wrote librettos for traditional Chinese opera when he was a teenager. He studied for several years in Japan, where he developed a lasting interest in modern drama. Under the influence of the May Fourth Movement of 1919, he joined the Society of Chinese Youth in Japan. Upon his return to China, he and Guo Moruo and others founded the Ch'uang-tsao she (Creation Society), promoting romanticism in creative writing. He also founded the Nan-kuo she (South China Society) to experiment in and popularize modern vernacular drama and initiated the Nan-kuo Fortnightly as the organ of the society. His earliest plays of the period include Ka-fei-tien chih i yeh (1920; A Night in a Caf) and Huo hu chih yeh (1924; The Night the Tiger Was Caught). He also wrote screenplays and founded the Nan-kuo Movie Society in 1926 and the Nan-kuo College of Art in 1928. Among his published plays of this period are Hu-shang te pei-ch (1928; Tragedy on the Lakeshore), Ming-yu chih ssu (1929; Death of a Famous Actor), Su-chou yeh-hua (1929; An Evening Talk in Suzhou), and Nan kuei (1929; Return to the South). In 1930 he published a self-criticism, summing up the theory and practice of the Nan-kuo theatrical undertaking, and joined the Tso-i hsi-ch-chia lien-ming (Left-Wing Dramatists League). His plays of the 1930s include Mei-y (1931; The Rainy Season), Pao-feng-y chung te ch'i-ke n-hsing (1932; Seven Women in Stormy Weather), and Yeh-kuang-ch' (1932; The Moonlight Sonata). During the Sino-Japanese War (193745), while serving in various capacities for wartime mobilization, he composed some 12 librettos for traditional Chinese opera, a more popular form of entertainment and, consequently, a more effective form of energizing the Chinese masses. Tian personally led troupes on tours to the rear units and agitated for resistance against the Japanese invaders. The play Li-jen hsing (1947; The Charming Ladies) is one of his major postwar dramatic works. After 1949 Tian served as president of the Peking Experimental School of Traditional Opera, chairman of the Chinese Dramatists' Association, and vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Meanwhile, he continued to write and adapt plays and librettos. Kuan Han-ch'ing (1958; Kuan Han-ch'ing [proper name]), Pai-she chuan (1958; The Story of the White Snake), and Wen-ch'eng kung-chu (1960; Princess Wen-ch'eng) were remarkable successes on the stage and in print. Hsieh Yao-huan (1961; Hsieh Yao-huan [proper name]) is thought by some critics to represent Tian's highest achievement in the drama but already in 1964 was being attacked by leftists as a great poisonous weed. He was persecuted by the Gang of Four during the Cultural Revolution.