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{{Short description|Hong Kong author and poet (1937–2022)}} |
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{{EngvarB|date= |
{{EngvarB|date=December 2022}} |
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{{Use dmy dates|date= |
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}} |
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{{BLP sources|date=May 2011}} |
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{{family name hatnote|1=Cheung |lang=Hong Kong}} |
{{family name hatnote|1=Cheung |lang=Hong Kong}} |
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{{Infobox writer |
{{Infobox writer |
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| image = 西西2 (cropped).tif |
| image = 西西2 (cropped).tif |
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| name = Cheung Yin |
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| name = Zhang Yan{{clarify|reason=Pinyin not used.}} |
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| pseudonym = Xi Xi |
| pseudonym = Xi Xi |
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| birth_date = {{Birth date |
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1937|10|7|df=y}} |
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| birth_place = Shanghai |
| birth_place = [[Shanghai]], [[Republic of China (1911-1949)|China]] |
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| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|12|18|1937|10|7|df=y}} |
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| occupation = {{cslist | Teacher | novelist | poet}} |
| occupation = {{cslist | Teacher | novelist | poet}} |
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| alma_mater = Heep Yunn School, Grantham College of Education |
| alma_mater = [[Heep Yunn School]], Grantham College of Education |
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| notable_works = {{unbulleted list|Shops|My City|A Woman Like Me|Mourning a Breast}} |
| notable_works = {{unbulleted list|Shops|My City|A Woman Like Me|Mourning a Breast}} |
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| native_name = 張彥 |
| native_name = 張彥 |
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| native_name_lang = |
| native_name_lang = yue |
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}} |
}} |
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'''Hsi Hsi'''/'''Sai Sai'''/'''Xi Xi''' ({{zh|c=西西|hp=Xī Xī|cy=sāi sāi|first=t,s,j}} |
'''Hsi Hsi'''/'''Sai Sai'''/'''Xi Xi''' ({{zh|c=西西|hp=Xī Xī|cy=sāi sāi|first=t,s,j}}; 7 October 1937 – 18 December 2022)<ref>https://www.facebook.com/story.php/?story_fbid=pfbid0p3FChxUWRQjmMMopAfFpAxtACGravgEzZwxdqyP6Piq5WZ9hSxA44Ci4GHKFvSmil&id=186040714921338 bit.ly-3hwoGSK</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://news.now.com/urgentnews.jsp?refer=Share&taskId=31046 | title=【最新】著名作家西西有份創辦的素葉工作坊在社交網站指，西西今早八時十五分因心臟衰竭離世，終年85歲 | date=18 December 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.inmediahk.net/node/%E6%96%87%E8%97%9D/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E8%91%97%E5%90%8D%E4%BD%9C%E5%AE%B6%E8%A5%BF%E8%A5%BF%E9%80%9D%E4%B8%96-%E4%BA%AB%E5%B9%B485%E6%AD%B2|title=香港著名作家西西逝世 享年85歲 | 獨媒報導 | 獨立媒體|accessdate=28 March 2023}}</ref> was the pseudonym of the [[Hongkongers|Hong Kong]] author and poet '''Cheung Yin''', '''"Ellen"'''/'''Zhang Yan''' ({{zh|c=張彥|cy=jēung yin|hp=Zhāng Yàn|first= t,s,j}}). She was born in [[Shanghai]], and moved to Hong Kong [[1949|at the age of twelve]]. She was formerly a teacher and had been a Hong Kong–based writer. Her works are also popular in [[Taiwan]] and [[mainland China]]. She had become a rather well-known figure to many secondary school students in Hong Kong. This was due in particular to one of her essays, "Shops" (店鋪), which was adopted as reading material for the Chinese Language paper in the [[Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination]] (HKCEE) by the [[HKEAA|Hong Kong Examinations Authority]] of the time. In 2019, Hsi Hsi was the recipient of the [[Newman Prize for Chinese Literature]]. |
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==Childhood== |
==Childhood== |
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{{Infobox chinese |
{{Infobox chinese |
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| title = |
| title = Cheung Yin |
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| t = 張彥 |
| t = 張彥 |
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| hk = Cheung Yin |
| hk = Cheung Yin |
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| y = jēung yìn |
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| j = Zoeng1 Jin6 |
| j = Zoeng1 Jin6 |
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| p = Zhāng Yàn |
| p = Zhāng Yàn |
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| showflag = yj |
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| first = t |
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}} |
}} |
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{{Infobox chinese |
{{Infobox chinese |
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| Line 32: | Line 35: | ||
| j = Sai1 Sai1 |
| j = Sai1 Sai1 |
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| p = Xī Xī |
| p = Xī Xī |
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| w = Hsi<sup>1</sup> Hsi<sup>1</sup> |
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| y = sāi sāi |
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| showflag = yj |
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}} |
}} |
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Hsi Hsi's ancestors came from [[ |
Hsi Hsi's ancestors came from [[Heungshan|Chungshan]]/Hsiangshan/Heungshan, Kwangtung (now Zhongshan, Guangdong). She was born in [[Pudong|Putung]], Shanghai, where she would go on to attend primary school. Hsi Hsi was born in 1937, though her [[Hong Kong identity card]] showed her year of birth as 1938. She thus believed that 1938 was her year of birth over the course of her life, until she consulted family documents following the death of her sister in the 2010's, and found out that she was actually born in 1937.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Book for 2020|url=https://www.onecityonebook.hk/book-for-2020|access-date=16 November 2020|website=One City One Book HK|language=en}}</ref> In 1950, she immigrated to Hong Kong with her parents. Her father worked at [[Kowloon Motor Bus Company]] (KMB) as a [[manual fare collection|ticket checker]]. Additionally, he had been a coach for a Division A football club, later becoming a referee since he was in Shanghai, thus Hsi Hsi developed an immense interest in [[Association football|football]] when she was young. Hsi Hsi was born as one of five children of her parents, two brothers and two sisters. |
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Hsi Hsi attended secondary school at [[Heep Yunn School]], where lessons were taught in [[Cantonese]]; she started her English-instructed lessons from Form 4. As a junior secondary school student, she began to write for the local newspapers and magazines. |
Hsi Hsi attended secondary school at [[Heep Yunn School]], where lessons were taught in [[Cantonese language|Cantonese]]; she started her English-instructed lessons from Form 4. As a junior secondary school student, she began to write for the local newspapers and magazines. |
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According to her in ''A Girl Like Me'', the character {{lang|zh-hant|西}} in her pen name is a [[pictogram]] symbolizing a girl playing [[hopskotch]], which was her favourite game during childhood. |
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==Early writing career== |
==Early writing career== |
||
Hsi Hsi's first piece of published writing, a fourteen-line [[Chinese poetry|modern Chinese poem]], was published in ''Everyone's Literature'' (人人文學) in the 1950s. When Hsi Hsi was studying in Form 3, she won the first prize in the senior section of a writing competition organised by ''Learn-Mates'' (學友). In 1957, she continued her studies at the [[Grantham College of Education]] (later merged with other constitute colleges to form the [[Hong Kong Institute of Education]]), and became a teacher at Farm Road Government Primary School after graduation. Besides poetry, novels, essays, [[fairy tale]]s and [[translation|translated]] literature, Hsi Hsi also wrote TV screenplays in the 1960s, like ''The Dark Green Age'' (黛綠年華) and ''The Window'' (窗), as well as numerous film reviews. She was a pioneer in the field of [[experimental film]] in Hong Kong. |
Hsi Hsi's first piece of published writing, a fourteen-line [[Chinese poetry|modern Chinese poem]], was published in ''Everyone's Literature'' (人人文學) in the 1950s. When Hsi Hsi was studying in Form 3, she won the first prize in the senior section of a writing competition organised by ''Learn-Mates'' (學友). In 1957, she continued her studies at the [[Grantham College of Education]] (later merged with other constitute colleges to form the [[Hong Kong Institute of Education]]), and became a teacher at {{ill|Farm Road Government Primary School|zh-tw|%E8%BE%B2%E5%9C%83%E9%81%93%E5%AE%98%E7%AB%8B%E5%B0%8F%E5%AD%B8}} after graduation. Besides poetry, novels, essays, [[fairy tale]]s and [[translation|translated]] literature, Hsi Hsi also wrote TV screenplays in the 1960s, like ''The Dark Green Age'' (黛綠年華) and ''The Window'' (窗), as well as numerous film reviews. She was a pioneer in the field of [[experimental film]] in Hong Kong. |
||
As well as contributing to multiple newspaper and magazine columns, she was the editor of ''Chinese Students' Weekly'' poetry section (1960s), as well as ''Thumb Weekly'' (大拇指周報) (1975–1977) and ''Plain Leaf Literature'' (素葉文學) (1981–1984), which was the 68-volume magazine first published in 1980 by Su Yeh Publications, a publishing company founded by Xi Xi and her friends. Su Yeh Publications dedicated itself to publishing works by Hong Kong authors. Up until 1984, the publishing company had produced books in 22 categories, including ''A Loafer Who Burnt His Guitar'' (焚琴的浪子), a collection of Ma Lang's (馬朗) poems; ''A Tour in Mirrors'' (鏡遊), a Chinese movie critic's collection by Lin Nian-Tong (林年同); and ''My Resplendence'' (我的燦爛), an essay and poem collection by Zhong Ling-Ling (鍾玲玲). The publishing company continued its paper-based publishing until 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|title=素葉出版社|url=http://www.suyeh.com/whatsnew_index.php|access-date= |
As well as contributing to multiple newspaper and magazine columns, she was the editor of ''Chinese Students' Weekly'' poetry section (1960s), as well as ''Thumb Weekly'' (大拇指周報) (1975–1977) and ''Plain Leaf Literature'' (素葉文學) (1981–1984), which was the 68-volume magazine first published in 1980 by Su Yeh Publications, a publishing company founded by Xi Xi and her friends. Su Yeh Publications dedicated itself to publishing works by Hong Kong authors. Up until 1984, the publishing company had produced books in 22 categories, including ''A Loafer Who Burnt His Guitar'' (焚琴的浪子), a collection of Ma Lang's (馬朗) poems; ''A Tour in Mirrors'' (鏡遊), a Chinese movie critic's collection by Lin Nian-Tong (林年同); and ''My Resplendence'' (我的燦爛), an essay and poem collection by Zhong Ling-Ling (鍾玲玲). The publishing company continued its paper-based publishing until 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|title=素葉出版社|url=http://www.suyeh.com/whatsnew_index.php|access-date=16 November 2020|website=www.suyeh.com}}</ref> |
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== Novels and short stories == |
== Novels and short stories == |
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''My City'' was published in 1979. Originally a [[Serial (literature)|serial]] on the newspaper ''Hong Kong Express'', she presented the world as seen through young people's eyes. She also illustrated the serial with her own drawings, attached along each publication |
''My City'' was published in 1979. Originally a [[Serial (literature)|serial]] on the newspaper ''Hong Kong Express'', she presented the world as seen through young people's eyes. She also illustrated the serial with her own drawings, attached along with each publication in the newspaper.<ref name=":0" /> While the serial was not an attempt to critique social issues, it nevertheless tackled issues such as overcrowded spaces and overloading academic pressure. It has now become a staple in Hong Kong literature, ranked 51st by the ''[[Yazhou Zhoukan]]'' as one of the 100 best Chinese novels in the 20th century. It also became the inspiration for the 2015 documentary ''My City'' directed by [[Fruit Chan]]. |
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''Deer Hunt'', published in 1982, was inspired by the history during the [[Qing dynasty|Qing Dynasty]] when [[Qianlong Emperor|Qianlong]] was emperor. The novel described a plan of assassinating the emperor, and the remembrance of the emperor to his grandfather [[Kangxi Emperor|Kangxi]]. It was reprinted twice in Taiwan, once in 1986 and once in 1999. |
''Deer Hunt'', published in 1982, was inspired by the history during the [[Qing dynasty|Qing Dynasty]] when [[Qianlong Emperor|Qianlong]] was emperor. The novel described a plan of assassinating the emperor, and the remembrance of the emperor to his grandfather [[Kangxi Emperor|Kangxi]]. It was reprinted twice in Taiwan, once in 1986 and once in 1999. |
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Xi Xi |
Xi Xi enjoyed travelling; she has been to many countries in Eastern Europe, as well as Turkey, Egypt, Greece, and, most frequently, [[mainland China]]. Travelling to these places has done much to inspire her writing. In 1983, ''[[United Daily News]]'' published Xi Xi's ''A Woman Like Me'' (像我這樣的一個女子), a collection of short stories written between 1976 and 1982,<ref>{{cite web|title=像我這樣的一個女子|url=https://cd.edb.gov.hk/chi/resource/clit_select/article/047.pdf|access-date=15 November 2020|language=zh}}</ref> and it was the first time her works were introduced to [[Taiwanese people|Taiwanese]] people. The collection won Xi Xi the Recommended Novella Prize, the highest honour in the United Daily News 8th Novel awards. |
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The 1992 novel ''Mourning a Breast'' (哀悼乳房) was written in order to document her feelings, thoughts, and encounters during her treatment with breast cancer, which she was diagnosed with in 1989. Due to the complications of her cancer surgery, she lost the function of her right hand by 1999 and had to write with her left hand. The novel was nominated by the ''[[China Times]]'' in 1992 as one of the ten best books of the year. It also provided the inspiration for the 2006 movie [[2 Become 1 (film)|''2 Become 1'']] starring [[Miriam Yeung]]. |
The 1992 novel ''Mourning a Breast'' (哀悼乳房) was written in order to document her feelings, thoughts, and encounters during her treatment with breast cancer, which she was diagnosed with in 1989. Due to the complications of her cancer surgery, she lost the function of her right hand by 1999 and had to write with her left hand. The novel was nominated by the ''[[China Times]]'' in 1992 as one of the ten best books of the year. It also provided the inspiration for the 2006 movie [[2 Become 1 (film)|''2 Become 1'']] starring [[Miriam Yeung]]. |
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"Shops" is an essay written by Xi Xi, which was adopted as the reading material for the Chinese language paper of the [[HKCEE]]. This passage depicted the ageing buildings, [[squatter]]s, and old-fashioned traditional shops in [[Central and Western District]], particularly in [[Sheung Wan]] and [[Sai Ying Pun]], as well as other activity in this hustling district. She expressed her nostalgia towards her childhood, and the reminiscence towards the disappearing old shops due to the drastic urban development. |
"Shops" is an essay written by Xi Xi, which was adopted as the reading material for the Chinese language paper of the [[HKCEE]]. This passage depicted the ageing buildings, [[squatter]]s, and old-fashioned traditional shops in [[Central and Western District]], particularly in [[Sheung Wan]] and [[Sai Ying Pun]], as well as other activity in this hustling district. She expressed her nostalgia towards her childhood, and the reminiscence towards the disappearing old shops due to the drastic urban development. |
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''Flying Carpet'' (飛氈), a novel inspired |
''Flying Carpet'' (飛氈), a novel inspired by the history of Hong Kong in the past one hundred years, was published in 1999. In the novel, Hong Kong was given the name of Fertillia (肥土鎮), a town at the edge of Dragonland (巨龍國), a projection of China, and the novel described how the town transformed in three generations. |
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In 2009, Xi Xi published the essay and photograph collection, ''The Teddy Bear Chronicles'' ({{lang|zh|縫熊志}}). She donated the teddy bears sewn and photographed in the book to the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library in 2018. In 2016, a collection of poems by Xi Xi was published in English under the title ''Not Written Words'', which received the [[Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize]] in 2017. In 2019, Xi Xi was awarded the [[Newman Prize for Chinese Literature]] and the [[Cikada Prize]]. |
In 2009, Xi Xi published the essay and photograph collection, ''The Teddy Bear Chronicles'' ({{lang|zh|縫熊志}}). She donated the teddy bears sewn and photographed in the book to the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library in 2018. In 2016, a collection of poems by Xi Xi was published in English under the title ''Not Written Words'', which received the [[Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize]] in 2017. In 2019, Xi Xi was awarded the [[Newman Prize for Chinese Literature]] and the [[Cikada Prize]]. |
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* ''My City'' (1979) |
* ''My City'' (1979) |
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* ''Deer Hunt'' (1982) |
* ''Deer Hunt'' (1982) |
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* ''Mourning a Breast'' (哀悼乳房) (1992) |
* ''Mourning a Breast'' (哀悼乳房) (1992), trans. Jennifer Feeley (New York Review Books, 2024) |
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* ''Flying Carpet'' (飛氈) (1999) |
* ''Flying Carpet'' (飛氈) (1999) |
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===Short stories=== |
===Short stories=== |
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* ''A Woman Like Me'' ''(像我這樣的一個女子)'' (1983) [translated into English by |
* ''A Woman Like Me'' ''(像我這樣的一個女子)'' (1983) [translated into English by {{ill|Stephen C. Soong|zh-tw|%E5%AE%8B%E6%B7%87}} as ''A Girl Like Me and other stories'' (Renditions, Hong Kong, 1986] |
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===Poetry collection=== |
===Poetry collection=== |
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== External links == |
== External links == |
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* [https://xixicity.org Xi Xi City - a living exhibit devoted to Hong Kong, Xi Xi, and My City] |
* [https://xixicity.org Xi Xi City - a living exhibit devoted to Hong Kong, Xi Xi, and My City] |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Xi Xi}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xi Xi}} |
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[[Category:1937 births]] |
[[Category:1937 births]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:2022 deaths]] |
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[[Category:Pseudonymous women writers]] |
[[Category:Pseudonymous women writers]] |
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[[Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers]] |
[[Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers]] |
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[[Category:Hong Kong novelists]] |
[[Category:Hong Kong novelists]] |
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[[Category:Hong Kong poets]] |
[[Category:Hong Kong poets]] |
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[[Category:Hong Kong women writers]] |
[[Category:Hong Kong women writers]] |
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[[Category:20th-century Chinese women educators]] |
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[[Category:20th-century Chinese educators]] |
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[[Category:Chinese women novelists]] |
[[Category:Chinese women novelists]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Chinese women poets]] |
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[[Category:Poets from Shanghai]] |
[[Category:Poets from Shanghai]] |
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[[Category:Writers from Shanghai]] |
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Latest revision as of 09:57, 7 October 2024
Cheung Yin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Native name | 張彥 |
| Born | 7 October 1937 Shanghai, China |
| Died | 18 December 2022 (aged 85) |
| Pen name | Xi Xi |
| Occupation |
|
| Alma mater | Heep Yunn School, Grantham College of Education |
| Notable works |
|
Hsi Hsi/Sai Sai/Xi Xi (Chinese: 西西; Cantonese Yale: sāi sāi; pinyin: Xī Xī; 7 October 1937 – 18 December 2022)[1][2][3] was the pseudonym of the Hong Kong author and poet Cheung Yin, "Ellen"/Zhang Yan (Chinese: 張彥; Cantonese Yale: jēung yin; pinyin: Zhāng Yàn). She was born in Shanghai, and moved to Hong Kong at the age of twelve. She was formerly a teacher and had been a Hong Kong–based writer. Her works are also popular in Taiwan and mainland China. She had become a rather well-known figure to many secondary school students in Hong Kong. This was due in particular to one of her essays, "Shops" (店鋪), which was adopted as reading material for the Chinese Language paper in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) by the Hong Kong Examinations Authority of the time. In 2019, Hsi Hsi was the recipient of the Newman Prize for Chinese Literature.
Childhood
[edit]| Cheung Yin | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 張彥 | ||||||||||||||
| Cantonese Yale | jēung yìn | ||||||||||||||
| Jyutping | Zoeng1 Jin6 | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Xi Xi | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 西西 | ||||||||||||||||
| Cantonese Yale | sāi sāi | ||||||||||||||||
| Jyutping | Sai1 Sai1 | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Hsi Hsi's ancestors came from Chungshan/Hsiangshan/Heungshan, Kwangtung (now Zhongshan, Guangdong). She was born in Putung, Shanghai, where she would go on to attend primary school. Hsi Hsi was born in 1937, though her Hong Kong identity card showed her year of birth as 1938. She thus believed that 1938 was her year of birth over the course of her life, until she consulted family documents following the death of her sister in the 2010's, and found out that she was actually born in 1937.[4] In 1950, she immigrated to Hong Kong with her parents. Her father worked at Kowloon Motor Bus Company (KMB) as a ticket checker. Additionally, he had been a coach for a Division A football club, later becoming a referee since he was in Shanghai, thus Hsi Hsi developed an immense interest in football when she was young. Hsi Hsi was born as one of five children of her parents, two brothers and two sisters.
Hsi Hsi attended secondary school at Heep Yunn School, where lessons were taught in Cantonese; she started her English-instructed lessons from Form 4. As a junior secondary school student, she began to write for the local newspapers and magazines.
According to her in A Girl Like Me, the character 西 in her pen name is a pictogram symbolizing a girl playing hopskotch, which was her favourite game during childhood.
Early writing career
[edit]Hsi Hsi's first piece of published writing, a fourteen-line modern Chinese poem, was published in Everyone's Literature (人人文學) in the 1950s. When Hsi Hsi was studying in Form 3, she won the first prize in the senior section of a writing competition organised by Learn-Mates (學友). In 1957, she continued her studies at the Grantham College of Education (later merged with other constitute colleges to form the Hong Kong Institute of Education), and became a teacher at Farm Road Government Primary School after graduation. Besides poetry, novels, essays, fairy tales and translated literature, Hsi Hsi also wrote TV screenplays in the 1960s, like The Dark Green Age (黛綠年華) and The Window (窗), as well as numerous film reviews. She was a pioneer in the field of experimental film in Hong Kong.
As well as contributing to multiple newspaper and magazine columns, she was the editor of Chinese Students' Weekly poetry section (1960s), as well as Thumb Weekly (大拇指周報) (1975–1977) and Plain Leaf Literature (素葉文學) (1981–1984), which was the 68-volume magazine first published in 1980 by Su Yeh Publications, a publishing company founded by Xi Xi and her friends. Su Yeh Publications dedicated itself to publishing works by Hong Kong authors. Up until 1984, the publishing company had produced books in 22 categories, including A Loafer Who Burnt His Guitar (焚琴的浪子), a collection of Ma Lang's (馬朗) poems; A Tour in Mirrors (鏡遊), a Chinese movie critic's collection by Lin Nian-Tong (林年同); and My Resplendence (我的燦爛), an essay and poem collection by Zhong Ling-Ling (鍾玲玲). The publishing company continued its paper-based publishing until 2015.[5]
Novels and short stories
[edit]My City was published in 1979. Originally a serial on the newspaper Hong Kong Express, she presented the world as seen through young people's eyes. She also illustrated the serial with her own drawings, attached along with each publication in the newspaper.[4] While the serial was not an attempt to critique social issues, it nevertheless tackled issues such as overcrowded spaces and overloading academic pressure. It has now become a staple in Hong Kong literature, ranked 51st by the Yazhou Zhoukan as one of the 100 best Chinese novels in the 20th century. It also became the inspiration for the 2015 documentary My City directed by Fruit Chan.
Deer Hunt, published in 1982, was inspired by the history during the Qing Dynasty when Qianlong was emperor. The novel described a plan of assassinating the emperor, and the remembrance of the emperor to his grandfather Kangxi. It was reprinted twice in Taiwan, once in 1986 and once in 1999.
Xi Xi enjoyed travelling; she has been to many countries in Eastern Europe, as well as Turkey, Egypt, Greece, and, most frequently, mainland China. Travelling to these places has done much to inspire her writing. In 1983, United Daily News published Xi Xi's A Woman Like Me (像我這樣的一個女子), a collection of short stories written between 1976 and 1982,[6] and it was the first time her works were introduced to Taiwanese people. The collection won Xi Xi the Recommended Novella Prize, the highest honour in the United Daily News 8th Novel awards.
The 1992 novel Mourning a Breast (哀悼乳房) was written in order to document her feelings, thoughts, and encounters during her treatment with breast cancer, which she was diagnosed with in 1989. Due to the complications of her cancer surgery, she lost the function of her right hand by 1999 and had to write with her left hand. The novel was nominated by the China Times in 1992 as one of the ten best books of the year. It also provided the inspiration for the 2006 movie 2 Become 1 starring Miriam Yeung.
Later writing career
[edit]"Shops" is an essay written by Xi Xi, which was adopted as the reading material for the Chinese language paper of the HKCEE. This passage depicted the ageing buildings, squatters, and old-fashioned traditional shops in Central and Western District, particularly in Sheung Wan and Sai Ying Pun, as well as other activity in this hustling district. She expressed her nostalgia towards her childhood, and the reminiscence towards the disappearing old shops due to the drastic urban development.
Flying Carpet (飛氈), a novel inspired by the history of Hong Kong in the past one hundred years, was published in 1999. In the novel, Hong Kong was given the name of Fertillia (肥土鎮), a town at the edge of Dragonland (巨龍國), a projection of China, and the novel described how the town transformed in three generations.
In 2009, Xi Xi published the essay and photograph collection, The Teddy Bear Chronicles (縫熊志). She donated the teddy bears sewn and photographed in the book to the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library in 2018. In 2016, a collection of poems by Xi Xi was published in English under the title Not Written Words, which received the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize in 2017. In 2019, Xi Xi was awarded the Newman Prize for Chinese Literature and the Cikada Prize.
List of works
[edit]Novels
[edit]- My City (1979)
- Deer Hunt (1982)
- Mourning a Breast (哀悼乳房) (1992), trans. Jennifer Feeley (New York Review Books, 2024)
- Flying Carpet (飛氈) (1999)
Short stories
[edit]- A Woman Like Me (像我這樣的一個女子) (1983) [translated into English by Stephen C. Soong as A Girl Like Me and other stories (Renditions, Hong Kong, 1986]
Poetry collection
[edit]- Not Written Words
Newspaper and magazine columns
[edit]- A fairytale column in Tin Tin Daily (天天日報)
- "Movies and Me" (電影與我) in Chinese Students' Weekly (中國學生周報)
- "Bull's Eye and Me" (牛眼和我) in Express Daily (快報)
- "My Scrawling Room" (scrapbook) (《我之試寫室》剪貼冊) in Express Daily
- "Notes on Reading" (閱讀筆記) in Express Daily
- "The Flower Column" in Sing Tao Daily
- "Four Pieces of Jade" (四塊玉) in United Daily News
- "Siu Ming Chow" (小明周) in Ming Pao
- "Ear-man" (隨耳想) in Sing Tao Daily
- "How Xi Xi Views Soccer" (西西看足球) in Ming Pao
Essays
[edit]- Shops
- The Teddy Bear Chronicles (縫熊志) (2009)
Further reading
[edit]- Chinese Writers on Writing featuring Xi Xi. Ed. Arthur Sze. (Trinity University Press, 2010).
- Not Written Words by Xi Xi (Author), Jennifer Feeley (Translator). (Zephyr Press, 2016).
- 西西研究資料（一至四冊盒裝）. Eds. 王家琪、甘玉貞、何福仁、陳燕遐、趙曉彤、樊善標. (Chung Wa Books, 2018).
- 西方科幻小說與電影──西西、何福仁對談. (Chung Wa Books, 2018)
Portrait
[edit]- Xi Xi. A Portrait by Kong Kai Ming at Portrait Gallery of Chinese Writers (Hong Kong Baptist University Library).
References
[edit]- ^ https://www.facebook.com/story.php/?story_fbid=pfbid0p3FChxUWRQjmMMopAfFpAxtACGravgEzZwxdqyP6Piq5WZ9hSxA44Ci4GHKFvSmil&id=186040714921338 bit.ly-3hwoGSK
- ^ "【最新】著名作家西西有份創辦的素葉工作坊在社交網站指，西西今早八時十五分因心臟衰竭離世，終年85歲". 18 December 2022.
- ^ "香港著名作家西西逝世 享年85歲 | 獨媒報導 | 獨立媒體". Retrieved 28 March 2023.
- ^ a b "Book for 2020". One City One Book HK. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
- ^ "素葉出版社". www.suyeh.com. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
- ^ "像我這樣的一個女子" (PDF) (in Chinese). Retrieved 15 November 2020.
External links
[edit]
- 1937 births
- 2022 deaths
- Pseudonymous women writers
- 20th-century pseudonymous writers
- Hong Kong novelists
- Hong Kong poets
- Hong Kong women writers
- 20th-century Chinese women educators
- 20th-century Chinese educators
- Chinese women essayists
- Chinese women novelists
- Chinese women poets
- Poets from Shanghai
- Writers from Shanghai
- Hong Kong women educators