As we all know, Chinese characters are broad and profound, and there are many untold stories behind each Chinese character. Today I would like to introduce you to a word, this word was only born in 1920, but at that time caused an uproar, and was criticized by countless women.
In September 1920, Liu Bannong wrote a love poem called "Teach Me How Not to Miss Her", and the word "she" was spread in Chinese characters for the first time. The word "she" is Liu Bannong's translation of "she" to "she" when translating the British drama "Qin Soul". Before saying this "she" word, it is necessary for us to understand Liu Bannong.
Liu Bannong, a famous writer, linguist and educator, was one of the pioneers of the New Culture Movement. Lu Xun wrote in "Remembrance of Liu Bannongjun", "I would like to shine a light on his achievements with anger, so as not to let a group of trapped sand ghosts drag his previous glory and dead bodies into the abyss of mud." However, compared with Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi, Lu Xun, Li Dazhao and others, Liu Bannong's final ending is quieter.
On July 14, 1934, Liu Bannong died of illness in Beiping at the age of 44. Back to the previous topic, according to Liu Bannong's idea, he hopes that the word "she" can represent the task of women. However, as soon as the word "she" was introduced, it was immediately scolded by women, and everyone agreed that the word had serious discriminatory connotations against women.
That year, Shanghai's "Newcomer" magazine published an article signed by Han Bing, "This is Liu Bannong's Fault." In the article, the author's creation of the word "she" by Liu Bannong is completely an act of painting snakes, because the first and second person words "I" and "Ru" are not divided between men and women.
Coincidentally, Shanghai's "Current Affairs New Daily • Xuelan" published "The Study of Her Characters" signed by Sun Zuji, and he expressed his support for Liu Bannong's creation of the "she" character, and as a result, Han Bing published "The Study of Refuting Her Characters" again. As the two came and went, the word "she" gradually became known to people.
During the debate between the two sides, Liu Bannong studied in London, England, but he always paid attention to the domestic discussion of the word "she". In fact, as early as 1917, Liu Bannong had already proposed to use "she" to correspond to the English "she", because when the word "she" was first translated, it was often translated as "his daughter" and "that woman's". Because "she" is a common word, it often results in a cumbersome "other woman" and "that woman", which is very awkward to read.
On the eve of the official publication of the popular poem "Teach Me How not to Miss Her", Liu Bannong published "The Problem of the Word "She" in Shanghai's "Current Affairs New Daily • Xuelan". In the article, Liu Bannong elaborated on the necessity of promoting the word "she", which is very similar in form to the word 'he', easy to identify, and there is a clear difference, not to be misidentified, so it can be used as much as possible. ”
Although everyone quarreled over the word "she", Lu Xun began to replace the word "Yi" with "she" from 1924. In addition, Hu Shi used the word "she" far more often than the word "Yi" from 1924 onwards. It may be hard to imagine that "she", who represents hundreds of millions of women, has such an untold story behind it.
References: "The Problem of the Word "She"" and "The Study of Her Word"