User:Ikura24/Liu Bannong

Liu Bannong or Liu Fu (Chinese: 刘半农/劉半農; 刘复/劉復; 1891–1934) was a Chinese poet and linguist. He was a leader in the May Fourth movement.

Life
Liu Bannong joined Chen Duxiu at Peking University in 1917.

He studied in England and France from 1920 to 1925. After that, he taught in the field of phonology at colleges in Beijing, and taught Vernacular Literature (xiaoshuo 小說) in the Department of Humanities and National Literature (wenke guowen men 文科國文門) at Peking University.

Literary reform
Invited by Chen Duxiu, Liu Bannong became an important contributor to the influential magazine New Youth (Xin Qingnian) during the May Fourth Movement, starting from 1916.

He suggested four areas of literary reform in 1917, and proposes to differentiate the concept of literature in Chinese (wenxue) from that of language by resorting to the English definition of literature. More importantly, to clarify the concept of literature, he translated an amount of English linguistic contexts (literature, language, tongue, and speech). "What is literature? This question has been discussed by many authors. One might argue that 'literature conveys Dao.' But Dao is Dao; literature is literature."

—Liu Bannong 劉半農, ''"My View on Literary Reform: What is literature?" ( 我之文學改良觀 )'', 1917.

Poems
Liu Bannong created a new form of poetry, called unrhymed poems. He was an important composer of children's poetry.

Published Poetry

 * Wafu ji [瓦釜集/The earthen pot; 1926] ISBN 7999014303
 * Yangbian ji [揚鞭集/Flourishing the whip; 1926] ISBN 7505923676

Essayistic Writings

 * Bannong zawen [半農雜文/Mixed writings by Bannong; 1934] ISBN 9787535075017

Art Photography
Liu Bannong has published Bannong tan ying (Bannong on Photography). In which he combined technical instructions with a theoretical discussion of photography, which was the first appearance in China. Liu held the opinion that photography should express the author's conception and emotion. This is referred to as "ink and wash painting."

He was an an active member of the Beijing guangshe (Beijing Photography Society).

Translations

 * The Song of the Shirt
 * Dawn by Percival L. Wilde
 * La Dame aux Camélias
 * Canon of Sherlock Holmes
 * 乾隆英使觐见记