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Li Jinfa
Chinese architect, sculptor From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Li Jinfa (李金髮; November 21, 1900 – December 25, 1976) was a Chinese poet, sculptor, and diplomat of Hakka descent.[1][2] Li was often considered to be the founder of Chinese symbolistic poetry and was credited with helping modernize Chinese poetry.[3] Li was also a professional sculptor throughout most of his working life.[4] Briefly from 1944 to 1946 , Li worked for Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Iraq and Iran.[5][2] Li later immigrated to the United States where he remained until he died in 1976.[2]
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Li Jinfa was born in Meizhou county in Guangdong, China in 1900. Li's parents and grandparents were farmers, and he grew up in a household of strict discipline.[6]
In 1919, at the age of 17, Li left China from Shanghai to study in France.[2][1] In France, Li was one of the first Chinese students to study western style sculpting.[4] Meanwhile he was introduced to French literature such as the poetry from the French symbolist poets Charles Baudelaire and Paul Varlaine which influenced Li's future works.[7] It was here in 1922 where Li adopted his typical pen name of "Li Jinfa" after receiving visits from a blonde goddess which he believed cured of an illness he was suffering at the time.[1] His birth name was Li Shuliang.[1] Li chose sculpting to be his college major and two of his works was showcased in a Pairs art exhibition.[1][2][4]
In 1924 Li returned to China from Germany where he was offered a position at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts as the school's sole sculpting professor.[1][2] Unfortunately, no students enrolled in Li's classes, so he was forced to resign and seek employment elsewhere.[1][4] From 1924 to 1928 Li worked at a myriad of different academic and governmental intuitions.[1][6] In March of 1928 Lin was offered to be a sculpting professor at the National Hangzhou Art College.[6] During that time, he established a sculpting firm with his friends called "Roman Engineering Office" in Shanghai.[6]
Li began writing his poetry in 1920, but it was not he until he returned from Europe where Li published his first collection of poems “Light Rain”《微 雨》in 1925.[8][2] A year later in 1926 Li published "Song for Happiness" 《为幸福而歌》and a year after that he released "Gourmet and the Bad Year" 《食客与凶年》 in 1927. [9][10] In 1928 Li published "Ancient Greek Love Song" 《古希腊戀歌》.[11]
Despite his first few collections of poems being regarded as his best work, these publications garnered little attention form the other literati.[12] It was not until the 1930's were Li's initial publication of "Light Rain" began to be recognized as the first instance of Chinese symbolist poetry.[12]
In 1931, Li resigned from teaching at Hangzhou Art school and moved to Guangzhou.[6] There he took up jobs as a freelance sculptor. [6]During this time, he erected two of his most famous statues which included bronze statues of Wu Tingfang in Guangzhou and statue of Sun Yat-sen at the entrance of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Guangzhou.[6][2][13]
In 1936 Li moved his family to Guangzhou to take up a teaching position at Guangzhou Municipal Art School.[6] In 1938 Li and his family fled to Vietnam when the city was captured by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.[6][14] In 1940 Li returned to Guangdong province to the wartime capital of Shaoguan.[6][2] During this time Li published patriotic poems in literary magazines in support of the Chinese war effort against the Japanese.[2][6] During the war Li published his last major poetic work titled "Exotic" 《异国情调》.[2]
In 1941, Li began working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[6] In 1944 Li was appointed the position as of first secretary to the Republic of China's embassy in Iran, later he was made chargé d'affaires to the Chinese Embassy in Iraq.[6][5][2]
In 1951 Li immigrated to the United States where he became a chicken farmer before using his skills as a sculptor to make a living.[6] Li died in New York in 1976.[6][2]
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References
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