Taiwan Today

When a group of American pressmen visited Taipei two years ago, one of China's leading authoresses was introduced to them. One of the journalists looked at her and said, "But, my dear, you look more like a school-girl than a writer to me."

It may come as a surprise to some people that women writers actually dominate the literary world of Free China. It is even more sur­prising that most of them do look like school-girls. The editors of literary magazines and literary supplements of the daily papers are often accused of showing "favoritism" to women writers, but as any editor can tell, it is women who write most diligently.

Many think that the writing boom of women is due to the stable conditions of Taiwan. Women now do not have to fight inflation. They do not have to worry about tomorrow's money value. They are enjoying a security un­known to them ever since the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937. From the peaceful mind springs inspiration.

At the present time, men and women in their prime of life, it they care to write, have plenty to write about. They leaf a life full of novel experiences. They have encountered fighting and bombing, poverty and struggle, humil­iation of defeat and joy of victory. Above all, they know how life can swing from one extreme to the other. All they have to do is to write down what they have been through. Taiwan's quiet and calm atmosphere is most suitable for writers. The male earners of bread have their office work to do in order to support their families. Women enjoy relative leisure. They find more time to dip their pens in ink.

Dr. Hu Shih, who was the moving spirit of the Chinese literary revolution 37 years ago, fighting for the repudiation of Wei li (a classical style) and the adoption of pei hua (a spoken language in writing), once said that his generation could not write pei hua without the influence of wen li. He compared the work of his contemporaries to a woman with bound feet. Even though she throws away the bondage, she still cannot walk with a natural gait. When she wears a pair of modern shoes, she has to stuff them with cotton wool to make them fit. His generation did not find it easy to cast away the influence of wen li. Now and then, they would unconsciously use a few expressions of wen li while writing pei hua.

Young men and women today have more advantage than their elders. They neither suffer from bound feet, nor from the influence of wen li. When they write, they write pure pei hua. They suffer no handicap which restricted the writers of Dr. Hu Shih's generation. They appear before the reader with natural feet. They can wear high-heels and walk with ease.

So far, more than ten books of any literary pretension written by women have been published. Most of them are prose. Thirty years ago, women writers wrote with the marked in­fluence of Tagore of India. But women writers today are obviously more influenced by writers of the West rather than those of the East. Take Miss Pan Jen-mu, for instance. Both of her novels—"It is Like a 'Dream" and "My Cousin Lien-yi"—are written in the Western style. Being a plot-minded writer, she fills her novels with suspense. Like mysteries, her novels hold the readers' attention to the very last. In reading Miss Pan's books, one senses at once that she must be a great admirer of Daphne Du Maurier, authoress of "Rebecca".

Miss Pan is the mother of three. She often writes at night after the children have gone to bed. Her first book, "It is Like a Dream", won the Chinese Literary Prize. Her second book, "My Cousin Lien-yi", was one of last year's best sellers.

Another woman whose writing shows Western influence is Miss Chen Hsiang-mei. She is better known as Anna Chennault, wife of "Flying Tiger" General Claire Chennault, president of Civil Air Transport. As she has married a Westerner, it is not surprising that her work is much influenced by the West. Miss Chen started writing during the war when she worked as a reporter for the Central News Agency. But she did not take up writing seriously until she came to Taiwan. In her book "Tsun Tsao Hsin", she told her readers about her mother, now deceased, her children and her life with her famous husband. She has an emotional and touching pen. It amazes people that she is so familiar with the Chinese classics which she often quotes. After coming back from America, her adopted country, she began to write about her trip in the journalistic style. Her Chinese is highly literary. We don't know how she finds time to write, as she not only has a husband, two daughters, and three dogs to take care of, but is also head of the CAT press office.

Miss Wang Chieh-hsin's novel "Spring Silkworm" has not attracted as much attention as it should. In that book, a mysterious atmosphere prevails. It reminds readers of "Wu­thering Heights". Even the landlord she describes reminds people of Heath­ cliff. She must be a great adorer of Emily Bronte.

Miss Chung Mei-ying, the authoress of "Cold Stream", Jives in Suao, a small town on the eastern coast of Taiwan. Her house is situated in a solitary place on the seashore. The sea has be­ come her companion. She often mentions the sea in her short articles. Her style, just like her person, is tender and mild. It is like a comfortable breeze in the spring. Her subjects are trivial, but they are appealing. When her articles first appeared in the literary supplement of the Central Daily News, they immediately won the admiration of many.

Miss Ai Wen is a fragile woman. Her book, "The Youth", is full of youthful imagination. Miss Wang Wen-yi, the editor of "The Soldier's Digest", is a writer with a rich sense of humor. Her book "Love and Boat" gives the impres­sion that the authoress is full of energy and life. She loves sports, travel and friends. The first part of her book, a collection of short articles, written some years ago, is not as mature as the latter part. You can almost feel the progress she has made during the past years.

A contrast to Miss Wang's works are those of Miss Chang Hsiu-ya. Her book, "San She Chin", most skillfully done, has a melancholy air. It seems that she nurses some pain in her heart, and that she writes in order to forget. Her favorite character is a deserted woman who suffers and yet refuses to become a victim of her suffering. Her brave and heartbroken heroine draws many sighs and tears from her readers. One sympathetic reader even boughtone hundred copies of her book to show his admiration.

One of the well-known women writers is a Tai­wanese. She is Lin Hai­-ying, who writes with a local touch. Her style is as fluent and as charming as that of her main­ land sisters. She plans to make an island-wide tour and to write about life of the islanders.

There are two well­ established authoresses who are more experienced than those mentioned above. Miss Su Hsueb-lin, known by her pen-name Lu Yi, has been a professor of literature in many universities. Recently she returned to Taiwan from France where for two years she had been engaged in making further studies of French literature. Her most famous book is "The Troubled Heart". At present she seldom writes, devoting most of her time to teaching and doing translation work.

Miss Hsieh Pin-ying made herself known by her book "The Girl Rebel" which was translated into English by Dr. Lin Yu-tang before the war. The translation was published in the United States. The heroine of the book is the writer herself. She told how she ran away from her family and joined the Revolutionary Army. She vividly portrayed life in the army. People know her as a girl soldier. The ex-soldier is now a devoted mother. But she has not put away her pen, even though she has three children to look after. She writes in the kitchen among the dishes and pans,

Some critics, raising their eyebrows, comment that the women writers of today so often write about their personal affairs that their articles read like personal diaries. Some people, on the other hand, are more sympathetic. They say that beauty and truth are two major elements in judging the merit of a literary work, personal or non-personal. A great writer like Charles Dickens did not hesitate to use his personal story to write "David Copperfield". No one blames him for that. Pro or can, no one denies that the women writers have brought with their works freshness, novelty and even boldness to the literary world of Free China.

Women with writing ability do not confine themselves to writing novels and prose. Some venture to join the Fleet Street of China. Miss Chang Min, the chief reporter of the Hsin Sheng Daily, one of the two largest newspapers in Taiwan, has been working in the journalistic circle for many years. She was the only news­paperwoman evacuated from Nanking in the last days before the Communist occupation. Known as "big sister" among the newspaper­ men, she has more than ten reporters working under her. At the same time she is the editor of the women's page of her paper. She works ten hours a day.

Miss Nancy Yu, pub­lisher of the English language China Post, started her paper four months ago with a pair of bare hands. She is not only the publisher, but the editor, reporter and manager, all in one. She allows herself five hours of sleep. Her effort is not in vain as her paper now can stand on its own feet. But her gains have proved to be her husband's loss. The poor husband finds little chance to talk to her publisher wife. Luckily, however, he still can see her a few minutes every day.

Taiwan not only develops the talent of women writers; it also cultivates women's interest in painting. All of a sudden, women have taken up with a vengeance painting as a hobby. Painting has almost become a fashion. Middle-aged housewives, women members of the Legislative Yuan and women office workers, all take to their brushes. It has been proved that many of the amateur painters are talented. The most striking case is that of Madame Chiang Kai-shek. She has shown the world what she can do after only a brief period of study. Several of her paintings appeared in a recent issue of Life magazine. Professor Huang Chung-pei is her teacher. The proud teacher has many women students. They all study with a religious devotion. It is never too late to start. You never can tell if there is a Grandma Moses among them.

One of the most famous lady painters in Free China is Miss Sun To-sze. She has held a very successful exhibition in Taipei. Recently she left for the United States for further studies. Her works were exhibited in Los Angeles and other American cities drawing considerable in­terest and attention from the American public. She wrote back to say that she was delighted but greatly embarrassed to find herself the darling of American old ladies.

Another famous woman painter in Taiwan is Miss Yuan Chu-chen, whose exhibitions of oils have drawn much attention from the public.

Women are also to be found in the musical field. Miss Sun Teh-fang is a lady composer. She composed the New Army Song which is now sung all over the island. She has been trying hard to put some Chinese national touch to modern music. Professor Lin Chiu-chin is a soprano singer. Her concerts are a rare treat to music lovers.

Chinese music is more popular here. In Chinese music include Chinese opera. Almost every Chinese, from the white-collar class down to the rickshaw-puller, can sing a few snatches of Chinese opera. Though a little monotonous from the musical point of view, Chinese opera has its place in Chinese music.

There is only one Chinese opera house in Taipei. The leading actress is 24-year-old Miss Ku Cheng-chiu. Miss Ku has spent half of her life on the stage. When she was 10 years old, she made her maiden appearance in the opera. The leading man was a grown up. After the show the leading man had to carry his leading lady down from the platform. Miss Ku has been in Taiwan for more than four years. From July to October every year, she leaves the stage for a four-month vacation. For the other eight months, she appears on the stage every night. Sunday is the most strenuous day for her, when she has three performances. One is in the morning to entertain soldiers free of charge, one matinee and the third in the evening. She has no understudy. If she is unable to appear, the show simply cannot go on. Luckily, during the past four years, the show was interrupted only once when she received a telegram informing her of the death of her mother. She was too broken-hearted to go on.

Westerners say that Chinese opera is a combination of ballet, pantomime and Western opera. It means that to be an opera star, one must have not only a golden voice, but also grace of movement. Miss Ku possesses both in abundance. Her voice, though a little high pitched for the Westerner, has a sweet and soothing quality. And her dancing and fencing on the stage are magnificent.

Now and again, she goes to the front to sing for the defenders of our country. Once when she and her troupe arrived in the Pescadores, a typhoon struck. The rain was pouring and the wind was howling. The audience was there and so was she. She had to drown out the noise of the wind and rain. Rain leaked from the roof onto the stage and the hall, but not one man in the audience left before the show was over.

Miss Ku is probably the highest paid woman on this island. She produces her own shows in which she is also the star. Out of her earnings, she has to support more than a hundred people who work in her troupe.

Because of her frequent visits to the front and because of her free performances on Sun­days for the soldiers, she is called "the patriotic actress". "I know I don't deserve that title", she said once, "but I am happy to be able to contribute to my country with what I have arid what I can do. It will give me great pleasure to sing for the first batch of soldiers to land on the Chinese mainland".