Li Man-kuei
Li Man-kuei | |
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Member of the Legislative Yuan | |
In office 1948–1975 | |
Constituency | Guangdong |
Personal details | |
Born | 13 June 1907 |
Died | 20 October 1975 | (aged 68)
Li Man-kuei (Chinese: 李曼瑰, 13 June 1907 – 20 October 1975) was a Chinese educator, dramatist and politician. She was among the first group of women elected to the Legislative Yuan in 1948 and has been described as the 'mother of modern Chinese drama'.[1]
Biography
Born in 1907, Li was originally from Taishan in Guangdong province. After attending Zhenguang Middle School between 1921 and 1926, she majored in Chinese at Yenching University, graduating in 1930.[2] She returned to Guangdong and taught Chinese at Pooi To Middle School until 1933, when she returned to Yenching University for graduate studies in Chinese and English.[2] Between 1934 and 1936 she attended University of Michigan as a Barbour Scholar and earned a master's degree in English.[2] During her time in Michigan she became the first foreign student to win the Hopwood Contest for Drama and Essay.[3] She was then employed by Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. compiling the Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period.[2] From 1937 to 1940 she worked at Columbia University, where she worked part-time in the East Asiatic Collections, edited Far Eastern Magazine (the publication of the Chinese Students Association of America) and specialised in writing plays and stories.[2]
Returning to China in 1940,[2] Li taught at several institutions, including Ginling College and Chengchi University.[4] A prominent member of the Kuomintang,[5] she was a delegate to the Constituent National Assembly that drew up the constitution of the Republic of China. She was subsequently a candidate in Guangdong Province in the 1948 elections to the Legislative Yuan, in which she was elected to parliament.[4] She relocated to Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War, where she was credited with reviving local theatre.[5] She used her political influence to raise the profile of drama and funding for it, organised drama festivals and encouraged international cultural exchange.[5] After returning from a visit to Europe and the United States in 1960, she established the Little Theatre Movement.[6][7] The Little Theatre Movement introduced Western styles and modern performing arts to Taiwanese drama.[8] She became dean of the drama departments at Chinese Culture University and Fu Hsing Kang College, and served as a juror of the Asia-Pacific Film Festival.[9] She died in 1975.
References
- ^ Josephine Huang Hung (1979) The mother of modern Chinese drama: Li Man-Kuei
- ^ a b c d e f Li Man-Kuei Yale University
- ^ Man Kuei Li, Hopwood Winner, Owes Victories to Patriotism The Michigan Daily, 7 June 1936
- ^ a b 李曼瑰 Legislative Yuan
- ^ a b c Bi-qi Beatrice Lei, Judy Celine Ick & Poonam Trivedi (2016) Shakespeare’s Asian Journeys: Critical Encounters, Cultural Geographies, and the Politics of Travel, pp96–100
- ^ Bi-yu Chang (2002) Cultural Change and Identity Shift in Relation to Cultural Policy in Post-war Taiwan, with Particular Reference to Theatre
- ^ The Power of Plays Taiwan Today, 1 September 2001
- ^ From Folk Arts to Fusion Taiwan Today, 1 March 2011
- ^ Asian Festival Committee Reconsidering Competition Pacific Daily News, 29 June 1974
- 1907 births
- Yenching University alumni
- Chinese schoolteachers
- University of Michigan alumni
- 20th-century Chinese women writers
- 20th-century Chinese dramatists and playwrights
- 20th-century Chinese writers
- Chinese dramatists and playwrights
- Academic staff of Nanjing Normal University
- Academic staff of the National Chengchi University
- 20th-century Chinese women politicians
- Taiwanese people from Guangdong
- Members of the 1st Legislative Yuan
- Members of the 1st Legislative Yuan in Taiwan
- Academic staff of the Chinese Culture University
- Taiwanese dramatists and playwrights
- 1975 deaths
- 20th-century Taiwanese women politicians
- Writers from Guangdong
- Kuomintang Members of the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan
- Chinese women dramatists and playwrights
- People from Taishan, Guangdong
- Chinese women educators
- Taiwanese women educators
- Taiwanese university and college faculty deans
- 20th-century Chinese educators
- Women deans (academic)
- Republic of China politicians from Guangdong
- 20th-century Taiwanese educators