Breeze of a Spring Evening and Other Stories

Yu Dafu (1896 - 1945) was an eminent Chinese short story writer, novelist and poet of the May Fourth period. Born in Fuyang, Zhejiang province, Yu Dafu grew up in the late-Qing and early Republican era, a time of turmoil in which China faced foreign aggression, social upheaval and economic decline. Like many young Chinese of his generation, Yu received his education in Japan, a country whose ability to industrialize and build a strong military was viewed as a model to emulate.In 1921, while he still lived in Japan, Yu Dafu and other Chinese writers founded the Creation Society, which promoted vernacular and modern literature. Yu's first major literary success was Sinking, a volume of stories that explored the weakness, isolation and disorientation of the modern psyche. Sinking had a profound impact on the Chinese intelligentsia of the time not only because of its innovative language and the use of Japanese and Western themes, but also because it depicted the pain and distress of the individual in the context of China's sense of humiliation and crisis.During the 1920s Yu Dafu continued to write short stories and novels, mostly autobiographical. In 1928 he left the Creation Society and became the co-editor of a literary magazine alongside Lu Xun. He was a founding member of the influential League of Left-wing Writers. However, Yu did not share the opinion of many leftist authors that literature should be an instrument of political activism. He soon quit the League and joined Lin Yutang and Zhou Zuoren, who advocated a non-political, individualistic type of literature. Later in his life Yu Dafu's focus shifted from fiction to essays and poems in the traditional style.When Japan invaded China in 1937, Yu Dafu was working as a government official in Fujian province. During the war he moved to Singapore, where he worked as a newspaper editor. When the city fell to the Japanese in 1942, he fled to Sumatra. In 1945 Japanese police discovered his identity and arrested him. He was executed shortly after Japan's surrender.