Xu Dishan

Xu Dishan (simplified Chinese: 许地山; traditional Chinese: 許地山; pinyin: Xǔ Dìshān; Wade–Giles: Hsü Ti-shan, given name: 贊堃; Zànkūn, pen name: Luo Huasheng, simplified Chinese: 落花生; traditional Chinese: 落華生; pinyin: Luò Huáshēng; Wade–Giles: Lo Hua-sheng) (3 February 1893 - 4 August 1941) was a Chinese author, translator and folklorist. He was best known for his Chinese novels that focus on the people of the southern provinces of China and Southeast Asia.

Xu was born in Tainan, Taiwan to a family of Chinese nationalists. After the Japanese takeover in 1895 he accompanied his father and settled down in Fujian. He also taught in a Chinese School in Myanmar. Xu was an active participant and one of the pioneers of the May Fourth Movement. He was interested in Indian literature, and liked Rabindranath Tagore's works. He would translate many of his works and become one of the very few Indian Literature experts in China during the 1930s.

After obtaining a BA degree from Yenching University, he continued his studies at Columbia University and Oxford University. He is also remembered as an educationalist and professor at the Christianity Yenching University and Tsinghua University. His association with Hong Kong began in 1936 when he was appointed by Hong Kong University to be dean of the department of Chinese literature. Soon after the appointment, he devoted himself to the reformation of the education system. He was also active in cultural circles in Hong Kong, forming literature societies in Hong Kong.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Xu devoted himself to the Anti-Japanese cause, delivering speeches in Nationalist rallies and promoting Anti-Japanese sentiments. Xu also wrote patriotic novels that were well received by critics. Despite this, Xu's health deteriorated and his heart condition worsened. On the fourth of August, 1941, Xu suffered a heart attack and died. He was 49 years old.

Among the potential selected reading passages for the Putonghua Proficiency Test, test takers may be asked to read a story from the youth of Xu Dishan in which, after the family has grown peanuts for several months, Xu's father Xu Nanying uses an analogy to the peanut to teach a moral lesson to his children.^[1]

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