"Fang Zhi Sichuan Shuzhong Character" Chen Quan

Chen Quan (1903.09-1969.01), also spelled Daquan, was a native of Fushun County, Sichuan Province. His literary creation and literary ideas have aroused extremely strong repercussions in the modern Chinese literary scene. He wrote a great deal of books during his lifetime.

Chen Quan's father was a late Qing Dynasty Xiucai, and he had a deep influence on his son Chen Quan. Chen Quan was bright and studious since childhood, and during his schooling at the Fushun County Higher Primary School, he entered a private school to learn ancient Chinese and poetry after class, laying a deep foundation for Traditional Chinese studies. After graduating from primary school, he was admitted to the provincial Chengdu Middle School, and later admitted to the Beijing Tsinghua School. From a young age, Chen Quan began to write old-style poetry, and while studying at Tsinghua School, he wrote his first novel, "A Scene Before the Revolution", published by Shanghai Liangyou Book Company. During his time at Tsinghua University, he studied English, German, Greek and other Chinese. In 1927, after graduating from Tsinghua School, Chen Quan went to the United States to study at the University of Aberin and obtained a master's degree with excellent results. After that, he studied at the University of Kerr in Germany, where he received his Doctorate.

At the end of 1933, Chen Quan returned to China. The following year, he was recommended by Professor Wu Mi of Tsinghua University to teach literature courses at Wuhan University. In 1935, he taught at Tsinghua University. After 1937, Chen Quan moved south to Kunming with Tsinghua University. After the establishment of the Southwest United University, he coached at the Southwest United University. In 1940, he was transferred to Chongqing National Central Political School to teach. During this period, Chen Quan, Lin Tongji and others founded the semi-monthly magazine "Warring States Policy" and opened a supplement to the "Warring States" in the Chongqing "Ta Kung Pao", forming the so-called "Warring States Policy School". The literary and intellectual circles have severely refuted Chen Quan's works, believing that the creative ideological tendencies and themes of his works are chaotic, advocating Nietzsche's "superhuman" philosophical views, and even touting fascism. Therefore, for a long time in the past, Chen Quan has been denied as a negative writer.

The heyday of Chen Quan's creation was in the 1930s and 1940s, and his novels included "Calm in wandering", "Heavenly Question", "Conflict", "Wild Flutter", "Dead Ash", etc., and the short stories were collected in "Goodbye Cold Flies", "Guihong", and "Blue Butterfly". Chen Quan is also quite talented in script creation, and his main works include "After Marriage", "Wild Rose", "Blue Butterfly", "Golden Ring", "Heartless Woman", "Wardrobe", "Cold War", etc., as well as the film script "Girl with Broken Arm" (included in the "Guihong" collection). Chen Quan also has a large number of literary theoretical articles published in the Warring States Policy and the Ta Kung Pao Warring States, as well as monographs such as New Trends in Literary Criticism, Sino-German Literature Studies, Drama and Life, and From Nietzsche to Schopenhauer.

Since Chen Quan's creation was mainly during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, most of his novels and plays were based on the theme of the War of Resistance, such as "Crazy Biao" written by Liqun and several other young people, who were crushed by the cannons of the "July Seventh" Incident and their dreams of life. Another example is the five-act drama "Yellow Crane Tower", which depicts the story of the Pilots of the Chinese Air Force fighting against Japan in the War of Resistance. The film literary script "The Girl with the Broken Arm" depicts the story of a Chinese woman fighting against the Japanese in the anti-Japanese guerrillas. "Alarm Clock" describes the disaster caused by the Japanese bombing to the Chinese people. Chen Quan also wrote directly about Hitler's "election" of the German chancellor and the fact that fascists persecuted Jews and people of color in his works "Coup" and "Dismissal", which are based on Chinese students studying in Germany. The depiction of China's modern social history is also a feature of Chen Quan's works, he pursues the "epic" style and "chronicle" effect in some works, "Calm in wandering" with his hometown of Fushun County as the background, basically outlines the image history of the early 20th century in the hinterland of Sichuan. The parts of his work related to his hometown focus on showing the local characteristics of Sichuan, such as the Sichuan dialect and the natural environment of Fushun.

In the autumn of 1946, Chen Quan became the director of the Department of Foreign Languages at Tongji University and the director of the information office of the Shanghai News Daily.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chen Quan served as the director of the Department of Foreign Languages at the School of Liberal Arts of Tongji University and a professor at Fudan University. In 1952, Chen Quan was transferred to the Department of Foreign Languages of Nanjing University as the director of the teaching and research department, teaching German and German drama. In 1957, Chen Quan was mistakenly classified as a "rightist." Devastated again during the Cultural Revolution, he died in 1969.

In January 1979, Chen Quan's political problems were resolved fairly and his reputation was restored. In 1984, Shanghai Translation Publishing House published his translation of The Art of Language (original Kessel).

Source: Sichuan Provincial Local History Work Office

Originally published: "Chronicles of Sichuan Province • Characters"