When it comes to the great writers of the Republic of China, many people will think of Lu Xun, Hu Shi and others, in fact, the most sought after writer in the Republic of China period is neither Lu Xun nor Hu Shi, but Zhang Hatshui, even Lao She once said, "Zhang Hatshui is the only old writer in China who is known to women and children."
Zhang Hatshui's original name is Zhang Xinyuan, and he is well-known because of his pen name "Hate Water", called "Zhang Hate Water", Zhang Hatshui is famous for his novels, and is "Mandarin Duck Butterfly Wind", after the "May Fourth Movement", this kind of talented and beautiful woman love and hate works are no longer the mainstream of the cultural world.
Zhang Hatshui's novels such as "The History of Chunming", "The Family of Gold Powder" and "The Cause of Laughter" can be said to be known to women and children, and even Lu Xun's mother likes to read Zhang Hatshui's novels.
In May 1934, Lu Xun wrote a letter to his mother mentioning that he had helped his mother buy Zhang Hatshui's novels "The Family of Gold Powder" and "Beauty Grace", in which he bluntly said that he had never read such a novel.
Although Lu Xun didn't like such novels, his mother liked it, not only Lu Xun's mother, but almost all people from all walks of life in the market liked to read Zhang Hatshui's novels, which shows that Zhang Hatshui's fame at that time was beyond Lu Xun's reach.
At that time, a small newspaper in Shanghai said that Zhang Hatshui could get tens of thousands of manuscript fees in ten minutes, and he could buy a palace in Beiping, and later Zhang Hatshui's son Zhang Wu explained this "gossip".
At that time, Shen Zhifang, the general manager of Shanghai World Book Company, asked Zhang Hatshui for an appointment, and the two of them cooperated to negotiate a meal, and Shen Zhifang immediately paid a check for 4,000 silver dollars, which was rumored to be exaggerated, but at that time, 4,000 oceans could indeed buy a palace in Beiping.
Zhang Hatshui is a prolific writer, he can write about 20,000 words a day, and he writes it himself, his manuscript fee exceeds Lu Xun, Hu Shi and others many times, he supports the whole family of more than 30 people with a pen, Zhang Hatshui has 3 wives and 13 children, and also takes care of his mother and younger siblings.
Zhang Hatshui was born in a family of military generals, he has never forgotten to be a reading material since he was a child, he studied in Lichuan, Jiangxi Province in his early years, after the death of his father, his mother Dai took the child back to his hometown in Qianshan to live, in 1916, 21-year-old Zhang Hatshui married Xu Wenshu of the neighboring village under the arrangement of his mother.
Unexpectedly, when he was in the cave room, Zhang Hatshui found out that the bride was dropped, it turned out that it was Xu Wenshu's sister who met on a blind date, and she was beautiful, but it was Xu Wenshu who was married, Zhang Hatshui wanted to withdraw from the marriage, Dai couldn't bear to damage Xu Wenshu's reputation, and persuaded his son Zhang Hatshui to eat the bitter fruit.
In 1923, Zhang Hatshui had a stable income by writing, married a 16-year-old orphan girl Hu Qiuxia, and the two had a daughter the next year.
In 1931, 36-year-old Zhang Hatshui met 17-year-old Zhou Shuyun at a disaster relief fair, and fell in love with him at first sight.
In terms of private life, some people have some objections to Zhang Hatshui, but in terms of patriotism and anti-Japanese resistance, Zhang Hatshui is worthy of praise, in 1935, the head of the Japanese spy Tsuchihara Kenji asked someone to help ask for Zhang Hatshui's signature, and Zhang Hatshui found his own anti-Japanese novel "Laughing Karma Sequel" to sign on it.
The visitor reminded Zhang Hatshui not to offend the Japanese spies and be careful of causing trouble to his family, Zhang Hatshui didn't care about this, and later Zhang Hatshui paid 4,000 oceans out of his own pocket to run the "Nanjing People's Daily" to promote anti-Japanese resistance, and it was not published until 4 days before the fall of Nanjing, which shows Zhang Hatshui's anti-Japanese patriotism.
During the Anti-Japanese War, Zhang Hatshui wrote a number of novels about the Anti-Japanese War, after the establishment of New China, Zhang Hatshui served as a consultant to the Ministry of Culture, in 1955, Zhang Hatshui resigned from his job to write at home, and in 1967, Zhang Hatshui died of cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 72.