Ling Shuhua

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A writer and visual artist active primarily between the 1920s and 1950s, LS published short stories, essays, translations, and a memoir whose reception was shaped by frequently restrictive expectations for women writers of her time. She spent her life in several Asian and European countries, contributing primarily to Chinese and British literary cultures. She and her writing are associated with two creative communities: the Crescent Moon Society and Bloomsbury Group . Her manuscipts and correspondence are in archives around the world.
  • BirthName: Ruitang Shuhua Ling
    When LS was born, her given name was Ruitang. In her life and most of her writing she used the Chinese naming order, with her family name (Ling) followed by the given name she used from her school years onward (Shuhua).

  • Pseudonyms: Ling RuitangSu Hua Ling Chen
  • Indexed: Ling Shuhua; Su Hua
Somewhat blurry black and white photograph of Shuhua Ling, leaning back in a chair, holding an open book with large pages. Her hair is straight, jaw-length, and brushed back; she is wearing a pleated dress with a high neck.

Milestones

25 March 1900

In her later years, Ling Shuhua celebrated this day as her date of birth. Her great-niece and biographer Sasha Su-Ling Welland notes that she previously claimed to be born in 1904. There is no definitive record.
Welland, Sasha Su-Ling. A Thousand Miles of Dreams: The Journeys of Two Chinese Sisters. Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.
4, 140

Summer 1919

Ling Shuhua reached print for the first time when she completed an essay assignment about her role in a student demonstration inspired by the political events of and after 4 May 1919. Her teacher read it aloud with appreciation and sent to the Tianjin Daily newspaper for publication.
Ling Shuhua,. Ancient Melodies. Hogarth Press, 1953.
235
Welland, Sasha Su-Ling. A Thousand Miles of Dreams: The Journeys of Two Chinese Sisters. Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.
3

November 1953

The Hogarth Press published Ling Shuhua 's memoir Ancient Melodies, with an introduction by Vita Sackville-West . Ling Shuhua dedicated the book to Virginia Woolf and Sackville-West, with whom she conferred at different stages in the writing process.
Welland, Sasha Su-Ling. A Thousand Miles of Dreams: The Journeys of Two Chinese Sisters. Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.
306
Ling Shuhua,. Ancient Melodies. Hogarth Press, 1953.
prelims

1990

Ling Shuhua died from cancer at the age of eighty-nine or ninety in Shijingshan Hospital, Beijing, with her daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren nearby.
qtd. in
Welland, Sasha Su-Ling. A Thousand Miles of Dreams: The Journeys of Two Chinese Sisters. Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.
321-2

Biography

Birth

25 March 1900

In her later years, Ling Shuhua celebrated this day as her date of birth. Her great-niece and biographer Sasha Su-Ling Welland notes that she previously claimed to be born in 1904. There is no definitive record.
Welland, Sasha Su-Ling. A Thousand Miles of Dreams: The Journeys of Two Chinese Sisters. Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.
4, 140

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