INTRODUCTION to my Lao She book

Introduction

In my more than forty years of studying and reading Chinese no writer has captured my imagination as has Lao She. His insight, wit and clarity of vision for a better China is as needed today as when he was alive.

He was one of a handful of pioneer visionaries who saw the value of writing about the common people for the common people. He never wanted to do anything but write. He was not a “banner waving” revolutionary, but a man of high principles and ideals for all Chinese and China.

Lao She never joined a political party and took every occasion to point out the foibles of those in authority who abused the power of their position.

He was never in the military but he went where the troops were as the nation fought off the Japanese invaders. His poems, plays and short pieces of that period are not his best but they did help encourage the overthrow of the enemy.

One hundred years ago this year he was born. His work is appreciated today more than at anytime this century. To date Lao She is known only in the Chinese and Asian Study Programs of America’s large universities. It is long overdue for the English-speaking world to get to know him and his world -- A China that in some ways no longer exists.

Purpose: A desire to help in as Christian a way as possible to bring better understanding between the peoples of China and America. To make the Westerner more aware of the many things we hold in common with the Chinese. My 1978 founding of the Tao Foundation was dedicated to using this common ground for building better East-West relationships in the century ahead.

Britt Towery (bet@suddenlink.net)
Waco, Texas USA
May 6, 1999

Added Appreciation

During the eight years of preparing this book there are many colleagues and friends to whom I owe much. Many Chinese professors of literature in Nanjing, Beijing and the province of Shandong, as well as just plain “lovers” of the writings of Lao She, who have been most helpful.

I am grateful most to Lao She’s son, Shu Yi, and daughter, Shu Ji, both renowned writers in their own right, for writing the Preface. And for Nan Wang Wilson, Shu Ji’s daughter, for helping translate her mother’s and uncle’s words. The whole family have given me an insight into Lao She I could have found no where else.

Madame Lao She, Hu Jieqing, now in her mid-nineties continues to inspire the art world of Beijing. Her gracious gift of books and paintings ha
s helped make the Towery-Lao She Collection the largest outside of China and Japan. The Collection was begun to help students in modern Chinese literature and history in my classes at Baylor University.

In 1998 I donated the Lao She Collection to the Special Collections of the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. The official opening of the Collection will be held in October, 1999, during an International Symposium on Lao She at Southern Methodist University. Professor Lisa Chang Ahnert, director of the Asian Studies Program, and Dr. Jasper Neel, dean of Dedman College, are sponsors of the symposium.

I cannot name all who have helped and encouraged through the years but I would be remiss if I did not mention Dr. and Mrs. Charles Ku, LaVerne and James W. Whitaker, and my lovely and patient wife, Jody, who for 50 years has been most understanding of me and my malady for the purchase of books (and all kinds of strange ideas). Erasmus said, “When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” Jody’s patience, love and encouragement is without price.

Hands on help and encouragement have come from Peter Li of Rutgers University and William A. Lyell of Stanford University. I am thankful for Princeton University’s Perry Link for his kind words about the manuscript. My ever-patient editor, the late Joe B. Swan taught me “writing skills” as only he could do, humor and all.

I am grateful for the opportunity, after our years in Asia, to have taught at Baylor University. Such was made possible by men like former Baylor University President and Chancellor, the late Herbert H. Reynolds; retired Provost and the first director of International Education, John D. Belew; China-born Political Science professor, the late L. Gerald Fielder; Director of American Studies and English professor, James LeMaster; John Jonsson and Loyal Gould among others. Their appreciation of “things Chinese” made my six years at Baylor University a rich experience.

Any mistakes, oversights or errors in this book are mine. As I have said this book is not an indepth study, merely an introduction to the world of modern Chinese literature and especially the fiction of Lao She. Eventually I will post the entire book here.

BET (bet@suddenlink.net)
Waco, Texas