Chinese Literature - Li-hua Ying 2010

ZHONG LIHE, A.K.A. CHUNG LI-HO (1915—1960)
The Dictionary

ZHONG LIHE, A.K.A. CHUNG LI-HO (1915—1960). Fiction and prose writer. One of the most prominent writers from rural Taiwan, Zhong received a Japanese education, and after finishing middle school, he worked briefly on his father’s farm, where he fell in love with a young farmhand. The love affair met with disapproval from his parents and the community, as the young couple shared the same surname, a significant detail that rendered their union “incestuous” according to local customs. Heartbroken, they left home, and eventually arrived on the mainland where they lived as husband and wife. When they returned to Taiwan in 1946, Zhong was already a published writer but still struggling financially. Most of Zhong’s works, based on his own ordeals, were published posthumously. These autobiographical stories, such as “Lishan nongchang” (Lishan Farms) and “Yuanxiangren” (The Native), deal with social prejudice and financial difficulties in rural Taiwan, making Zhong a pioneer in Taiwan’s nativist literary (xiangtu wenxue) movement. Zhong died at the age of 45 in the midst of poverty and illness.