Ye Shengtao facts for kids

Quick facts for kids

Ye Shengtao

葉聖陶

叶圣陶

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Yè Shèngtáo
Wade–Giles	Yeh Sheng-t'ao

In this Chinese name, the family name is Ye.

Ye Shengtao (born October 28, 1894 – died February 16, 1988) was a famous Chinese writer, journalist, teacher, publisher, and politician. He helped start the Association for Literary Studies, which was the first group for writers during the May Fourth Movement in China. He also served as the Vice-Minister of Culture for the People's Republic of China.

Throughout his life, Ye Shengtao worked hard in publishing and teaching language. He believed that "Literature is for Life" (文學為人生). This meant he thought literature should be about real life and help people understand the world better.

About Ye Shengtao

His Early Life

Ye Shengtao was born on October 28, 1894, in Wu County, Jiangsu province. His birth name was Ye Shaojun (葉紹鈞). His family was not rich; his father worked as a bookkeeper.

When he was six, he started primary school. He often went with his father to work and saw how poor people lived. These experiences made him feel strongly about his country. They also shaped his later work as a journalist and teacher.

In 1907, Ye went to Caoqiao Secondary School. After graduating, he became a primary school teacher. In 1914, he lost his teaching job. He then spent his time writing classical Chinese novels for "Libailiu Magazine" ("Saturday Magazine"). Later, he found a new job teaching Chinese at a school run by the Shanghai Commercial Press. In 1915, he also became an editor for primary school textbooks there.

His Work in Literature

Ye Shengtao spent much of his life working for literary movements. After the May Fourth Movement in 1919, also known as the New Culture Movement, he became very involved in writing. He joined a student group called 'Xinchao She' ("New Tide Society") at Peking University. He started publishing stories, poems, essays, and plays.

In 1921, Ye, Mao Dun, and Zheng Zhenduo created the "Wenxue Yanjiu Hui" ("Association for Literary Studies"). This was one of the first literary groups of the New Literature Movement. They believed that art should show real life. Later, in 1936, Ye helped start the "Chinese Literature and Art Society." He also helped create the "Literary Alliance for Anti-Japanese Imperialism."

His Political Life

Ye Shengtao held many important positions in the government. After the Communist Revolution, he became the Vice-director of General Administration of Press and Publication. He also served as the President of People Education Publication and the Vice-Minister of Education.

He was chosen to be on important committees, like the Fifth Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. He also became the Chairman of the China Association for Promoting Democracy.

Ye Shengtao passed away in Beijing on February 16, 1988. He was 94 years old.

His Ideas on Education and Journalism

For Ye Shengtao, teaching and reporting were closely connected.

"Teaching is for not teaching"

Ye Shengtao greatly improved modern Chinese language education. He had a new idea for teachers: students should learn *how* to learn, not just memorize facts. This was a big change from the old Chinese way of teaching, which focused a lot on memorizing.

Ye also encouraged students to think for themselves and make their own judgments. He believed that these learning skills would help students learn throughout their entire lives.

Literature is for life

Ye Shengtao loved to show real life in his writings. He once said that he only wrote about things he knew well. He wrote about cities, towns, and villages where he lived. As a teacher, he wrote about school life. He also wrote about the Chinese Revolution as it happened.

Most of his journalistic works were inspired by people's lives. He thought literature was not just for fun. It was also a way to show reality and make readers think about the world. He felt it was his duty to let readers know what was truly happening around them. This is why he wanted to combine literature with journalism. He believed that writing could make young people more aware of society. This idea is similar to the journalistic rule of telling the truth. Ye Shengtao was like a reporter of life itself.

Making writing easy to read

Readability was a key feature of Ye Shengtao's work. This means how easily a reader can understand a text. As a journalist, Ye focused a lot on how language was used. He had been a teacher for over 10 years before becoming an editor. He believed that writing was for the reader and was a way for authors and readers to communicate.

Many writers at that time did not write clearly. Their words were often vague. Only well-educated people could understand their works. These writers did not think about how practical their writing was. Because of this, literature did not reach many people. Ye Shengtao believed that to write something artistic, one must first write something practical and easy to understand. If readers could not understand the content, the writing was useless.

His Life as a Journalist

"My first career, I would say, is editor."

Ye Shengtao once said, "If anybody asks about my career, I would say, my first career is editor, second is teacher." He spent most of his life editing and publishing. His journey as an editor began at the Shanghai Commercial Press in 1923.

By the end of 1930, Ye left the Shanghai Commercial Press. He became an editor at Kaiming Press. There, he started editing Chinese language books and storybooks for children.

Ye believed that "Editing is no easy task." For him, being an editor was not just a job, but a true career. He said, "Carelessness is strictly forbidden in editing. You have to check everything yourself. Editors must be serious about their publications, their reporters, and their readers." He thought that being serious was key to being a good editor. He always followed this rule in his own work.

Ye Shengtao dedicated his whole life to editing and publishing. His passion for his "first and ultimate" career never stopped. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, he moved to Leshan with his family. He worked as a professor at Wuhan University. In 1946, he returned to Shanghai and continued his editing work at Kaiming Press.

Ye's Publications

From 1925 to 1929, Ye Shengtao edited many famous magazines and newspapers. He was very involved in journalism throughout his life.

A New Era for Publishing

Ye Shengtao's ideas about modern Chinese language helped journalism grow in China. He wanted to standardize modern Chinese. This included standardizing grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, and simplified characters. He also helped create the Chinese Phoneticization Scheme (Hanyu Pinyin Fang’an). All his efforts made editorial work better organized and improved its quality.

Most importantly, Ye Shengtao promoted vernacular Chinese in publishing. His magazines and newspapers were mostly written in everyday language. This made them much easier for other journalists and readers to understand. All these changes helped modern journalism develop quickly in China.

Ye Shengtao was also an excellent teacher and talent scout. He taught and discovered many great young writers and editors. Some of them were Ba Jin, Ding Ling, and Dai Wangshu.

Starting The Truth Daily

The May Thirtieth Movement

On May 30, 1925, a terrible event happened in Shanghai. It is known as the May Thirtieth Movement. About 2,000 workers and students protested against foreign control. They demanded an end to unfair treaties. The British police then stopped the protesters.

"Who will tell the truth?"

None of the Shanghai newspapers reported this tragedy. Their front pages were mostly about gossip. The newspapers refused to mention the incident because of political pressure. As a journalist, Ye Shengtao was very upset. He said, "Why are the journalists so heartless to ignore this shocking massacre? Why are they so afraid of the fact? It’s ridiculous that nobody would tell the truth."

So, Ye Shengtao, along with Zheng Zhenduo and Hu Yuzhi, started Gōnglǐ Rìbào (The Truth Daily). Their goal was to show the full story of this event. They wanted to do this no matter what the foreign powers thought. They hoped to make the public more aware and proud of their country. They also wanted to spread the "spirit of May 30th movement" across China.

A New Way to Report News

Besides reporting the truth, The Truth Daily also had a section called “Shèhuì Cáipànsuǒ” (“Tribunal of the Society”). This section allowed readers to share their opinions about society. Ye and the other editors strongly criticized the unfairness they saw. This newspaper acted like a watchdog, keeping an eye on powerful groups. It also introduced the idea of "freedom of the press" in early modern Chinese society.

The Truth Daily only ran for 22 days because of money problems and disagreements among the editors. But Ye Shengtao never stopped seeking the truth. After the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), he fought against the Nationalist government. He worked hard for democracy and freedom of the press.

His Contributions to Literature

Realism: A Mirror of Life

Realism became a lasting feature of Ye Shengtao's writing. He was one of the first writers to use a realistic style. His writing was like a mirror, showing the bad parts of society and human nature.

As a teacher, Ye often wrote about educated people in his stories. Many of his main characters were poor, disabled, or treated unfairly. Ye always tried to show truth and reality in his works. He shared his ideas about democracy and socialism through his novels. These included "The Fire" (Huozai), "Under the Horizon" (Xiàn xià), and "A Scarecrow" (Dào cao rén). These stories focused on the struggles of people in lower social classes. His famous novel "Ni Huanzhi" showed the sad life of an educated person named Ni Huanzhi.

Ye Shengtao noticed that many people in the New China were selfish, uncaring, fake, and old-fashioned. People gave up their values for a stable life. Ye's works often had a sense of irony. He showed his unhappiness to make the public aware of these social problems. Ye was not just writing stories; he was also reporting on the mistakes in society. His writings were not just for fun. They helped people understand and think about reality. He believed that having sharp, observing eyes helped nourish life.

Children's Literature: Training Young Minds

Ye Shengtao's first academic essay was about children's literature. It was called Children's Concept (兒童之觀念). In it, he criticized how old traditions affected children's lives in China.

Ye was actually the first writer to create fairy tales in the 1920s. His story "A Scarecrow" (Dào cǎo rén) was published in 1923. This children's book was very popular. Another fairy tale was "A Stone Figure of an Ancient Hero" (Gǔdāi yīngxióng de shíxiàng). This story was about a stone shaped into a hero statue. The simple story had a deeper meaning. It made fun of leaders who were proud and did not care about their people.

Ye's student, Ding Ling, once said that his fairy tales made readers think more about society. Ye's fairy tales were simple but had deep meanings. He believed that children should understand their surroundings. This would help them think critically. Through Ye's stories, children could slowly get a clearer picture of society and their place in it.

Language and Writing Style

Ye Shengtao's language was refined and clear. He was known for choosing exactly the right words. He stressed the importance of feelings and emotions in his writings. The characters in Ye's works felt very real. He showed their inner feelings deeply.

The popular writer Zhao Jingshen believed that Ye was a special figure in literature. He described him as extraordinary. The beauty of his works lasted through all conditions. The strong emotions and feelings in his stories were based on truth and reality. This gave his stories great power. Ye said, "Emotion seems like the shining light, while description and assessment are spotted by this light." This shows that Ye was not just a storyteller, but a great artist.

Influence from Other Cultures

Ye's realistic writing style became a model for many other writers. He also said that reading different Western books helped him a lot with his writing. He once said, "If I hadn't read English, if I had not got in touch with literature in English, I wouldn't have written novels."

His works were thoughtful and critical. They were based not just on feelings, but on real and objective observations. Ye was not only a writer but also a reporter. These insights made his works rich and interesting. He brought a new way of thinking to modern Chinese literature.

Ye's Works

Literature

"The Snowing Morning" Xuě zhāo 《雪朝》 (Poems, co-written with Zhu Ziqing etc.) (1922)
"A Scarecrow" Dào cǎo rén 《稻草人》 (Novel) (1923)
"Under the Horizon" Xiàn xià 《線下》 (Short stories) (1925)
"Ní Huànzhī" 《倪煥之》 (Novel) (1929)
"A Stone Figure of an Ancient Hero" Gǔ dài yīng xióng de shí xiàng 《古代英雄的石像》 (Fairy-tales) (1931)
"The Heart of Literature" Wén xīn 《文心》 (Educational, co-written with Xia Mianzun) (1934)
"An Exercise in Weiyanju" Wèi yàn jū xí zuò 《未厭居習作》 (Prose) (1935)
"The Collections of Ye Shengtao's Short Stories" Shèngtáo duǎn piān xiǎo shuō jí 《聖陶短篇小說集》 (Short Stories collections) (1936)
"Selected Collections of Ye Shengtao" Yè Shàojūn xuǎn jí 《葉紹鈞選集》 (Collectanea) (1936)
"A Guide to Skimming" Luè dú zhǐ dǎo jǔ yù 《略讀指導舉隅》 (co-written with Zhu Ziqing) (1946)
"The Study of Fairy Tales" értóng Wénxué Yánjiū 《兒童文學研究》 (1947)
"A Guide to Intensive Reading" Jīng dú zhǐ dǎo jǔ yù 《精讀指導舉隅》 (1948)
"Recordings of Writing" Xiě zuò zá tán 《寫作雜談》 (1951)
"Selected fairy-tales of Ye" Yè Shèngtáo tónghuà xuǎn 《葉聖陶童話選》 (Fairy-Tale) (1956)
"Ye Shengtao's Collectanea" Yè Shèngtáo chūbǎn wénjí 《葉聖陶出版文集》 (1958)
"Resistance" Kàng zhēng 《抗爭》 (Short stories) (1959)
"The Night" Yè 《夜》 (1959)
"An Ordinary Story" Píng cháng de gù shì 《平常的故事》 (1959)
"Light Wave" Wēi bō 《微波》 (1959)
"The Collection of Poems" Qiè cún jí 《篋存集》 (Poems) (1960)
"Mr Pan Weathered the Storm" Pān xiān shēng zài nàn zhōng 《潘先生在難中》 (Short Stories) (1964)
"Ye Shengtao's Proses" Yè Shèngtáo Sǎnwén 《葉聖陶散文》 (Proses) (1983)
"I & Sichuan" Wǒ yǔ Sìchuān 《我與四川》 (Proses & poems) (1984)
"The Speaking of Literary Works" Wén zhāng jiǎnghuà 《文章講話》 (Educational, co-written with Xia Mianzun) (1997)
"72 Topics about Literature" Wén huà qī shí èr jiǎng 《文話七十二講》 (Educational, co-written with Xia Mianzun) (1999)

Journalism

"Saturday Magazine" Lǐbàiliù Magazine《禮拜六》
"Shanghai News of Current Affairs" Shànghǎi Shíshì Xīnbào《上海時事新報》
"Shanghai Nationalists’ Daily" Shànghǎi Mínguó Rìbào 《上海民國日報》
"The Literature Weekly" Wénxué Zhōubào 《文學周報》
"The Truth Daily" Gōnglǐ Rìbào 《公理日報》
"The Chinese Language and Literature Monthly" Guówén Yuèkān《國文月刊》
"Suzhou Commentary" Sūzhōu Pínglùn 《蘇州評論》
"Women’s Magazine" Fùnǚ Zázhì 《婦女雜誌》
"Novel Monthly" Xiǎoshuō Yuèbào 《小說月報》
"High School Students" Zhōngxuéshēng 《中學生》
"Enlightened Youth" Kāimíng Shàonián 《開明少年》
"Chinese Authors" Zhōngguó Zuòjiā 《中國作家》
"People's Education" Rénmín Jiàoyù 《人民教育》
"Chinese Language" Zhōngguó Yǚwén 《中國語文》
"Poems" Shī 《詩》
"The Light" Guangming 《光明》
"Chinese Language Magazine" Guowen Zazhi (《國文雜誌》)
"Magazine for High School Students in the War" Zhongxuesheng Zhanshi Banyue kan (《中學生戰時半月刊》)

Ye Shengtao Memorial Hall

Ye Shengtao Memorial Park in Luzhi town

The Ye Shengtao Memorial Hall is a special place that honors him. It is located where the 5th High School used to be, where Ye Shengtao taught from 1917 to 1922. You can find it next to the Baosheng Temple in Luzhi township, which is in the Wuzhong district of Suzhou city.