Hu Lancheng

Hu Lancheng (Chinese: 胡蘭成; Feb 28, 1906 – July 25, 1981) was a Chinese writer and politician who was denounced as a traitor for serving a propaganda official in the Wang Jingwei regime, the Japanese puppet regime during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He was the first husband of the celebrated novelist Eileen Chang.

Career

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Hu collaborated with the Japanese, serving briefly in the Propaganda Ministry of the puppet government in China headed by Wang Jingwei in the early 1940s and publishing a literary journal, Bitter Bamboo in which Chang published some of her work. Disagreements with colleagues in Nanjing led to his departure for Wuhan, where he continued supporting the regime as the editor of Dachubao until 1945. These actions made many Chinese regard him as a Hanjian or traitor, and led to intense controversy regarding the value of his works (including those which were non-political).

After the war, Hu went into hiding, eventually fleeing to Tokyo, Japan. In the early 1970s Hu taught in the Chinese Culture University in Taiwan for several years, until popular pressure forced him to return to Tokyo.

Personal life

In 1943, Hu married Eileen Chang, a Chinese writer, while he was still married to his third wife. They divorced in 1947.

Hu's fifth wife was She Aizhen.

In 1981, Hu died in Tokyo, Japan.

Works

• 山河歲月(Shan He Sui Yue, Times of the Earth), a study on Chinese Civilization
• 今生今世(Jinsheng Jinshi, This Life, These Times), a memoir
• 禪是一枝花(Chan Shi Yi Zhi Hua, Zen is a Flower), a study in Buddhism
• 中國文學史話(Zhongguo Wenxue Shihua, An Anecdotal History of Chinese Literature), a study on the history of Chinese literature
• 建國新書(Jianguo Xinshu, A New Book on State-building ), political philosophy
• 革命要詩與學問(Geming Yao Shi Yu Xuewen, Revolution Needs Poetry and Learning), political philosophy

References

• Words and Images, Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique 11.3 (2003) 675-716, where Taiwanese writer Chu T’ien-wen talks about Hu's influence on her.
• Excerpt of ‘This Life, These Times’, Renditions (ISSN 0377-3515), No. 45, translated by D.E. Pollard