Wen I-to (24 November 1899-15 July 1946), leading Chinese poet of the 1920's . In the 1930's he devoted himself to classical studies and to teaching at Tsinghua University. The outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war galvanized him into political activity, and he became a leader of the China Democratic League. Wen was assassinated in 1946. Born into a large family of some affluence in Hsishui, Hupeh, Wen I-to received a closely supervised traditional education under the guidance of his father, who held the sheng-yuan degree. English was added to the classical curriculum when Wen was 10. Under the influence of the ideas behind revolution of 1911 and the writings of Liang Ch'i-ch'ao (q.v.), the boy, to his father's displeasure, developed an aversion to classical ethics and a fondness for history, poetry, and art.

In 1913, when he was 13, Wen I-to entered Tsinghua Academy (later a college) at Peking. Although he chose Western literature as his major field, it was his excellent classical Chinese training that first made him known among his teachers and fellow students. In 1915-16 he was an editor of the student magazine Ch'ing-hua chou-k'an [Tsinghua weekly], for which he also wrote literary essays and poems in the traditional style, and in 1919 he served as a student editor of the Ch'ing-hua hsueh-pao [Tsinghua journal].

In the period preceding the May Fourth Movement of 1919, Wen I-to opposed the use of pai-hua [the vernacular] in writing. His ideas began to change, however, at the time of the May Fourth Incident (see Lo Chia-lun). On the morning of 5 May 1919 the students at Tsinghua discovered that a copy of the wellknown patriotic poem "Man-chiang-hung," by the gallant Sung general Yueh Fei (1103-41), had been posted on the wall of a dining hall in a gesture by Wen I-to of support for the students' cause. Two days later, when the Tsinghua students organized themselves to support the movement, Wen was given responsibility for preparing materials to incite the students to action. He soon began to write in pai-hua, and his first poem in this style, "Hsi-an" [the western bank], appeared in the Ch'ing-hua chou-k'an in July 1920. Wen was graduated from Tsinghua in June 1921. In protest against the school administration's imposition of an extra examination on graduating students who normally would have been sent abroad automatically to study, Wen postponed his projected trip to the United States and remained at Tsinghua for an additional year. Wen I-to left China for the United States in July 1922, arriving in Chicago early in August. He enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago, specializing in Western painting. Although he was deeply impressed by the institute's art collection and by the American aesthetic sensibilities which underlay it, he found urban life in Chicago extremely distasteful. He quickly encountered racial discrimination and later wrote a poem, "The Laundryman's Song," to express his indigation about the inferior social and economic status of Chinese in the United States. Wen soon began to sacrifice his class work at the Art Institute to his growing interest in poetry. He became very enthusiastic not only about such great Chinese poets as Tu Fu and Lu Yu but also about the English Romantics. He met such American luminaries as Harriet Monroe and Amy Lowell and read the works of such American poets as John G. Fletcher and Carl Sandburg. In 1922 he corresponded frequently with Liang Shih-ch'iu (q.v.) and other friends in China, telling them of his new ambitions for a literary career. He wrote that for him, literature was "a faith, a vision, and an ideal, not merely a medium for the expression of emotion." His new dedication to literature did not keep Wen I-to from being lonely and homesick in Chicago. In the autumn of 1923, therefore, he joined Liang Shih-ch'iu at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Although he continued to major in fine arts and painting, his time was spent on literature. He took courses in Victorian and modern poetry. In September, his first volume of poems, Hung-chu [red candles], was published at Shanghai. Liang Shih-ch'iu and Kuo Mo-jo (q.v.) were instrumental in securing publication of this collection of lyrics. Wen's poems were acclaimed in China for their technical excellence and for the richness of their imagery. When Liang Shih-ch'iu went to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the summer of 1924, Wen moved to New York, where he joined the Art Students League and became a dedicated theater-goer. He also joined the Ta-chiang-she [great river society], a political group organized by Chinese students in the United States to support the development of a strong Chinese state. Wen became a fervent cultural nationalist, particularly intent upon the rejuvenation of Chinese painting, poetry, and drama. At this time he was an admirer of Sun Yat-sen, but he did not join the Kuomintang. After nearly three years in the United States, Wen I-to returned to China in May 1925 with the dramatist Yü Shang-yuan. Upon his return, Wen became dean of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Peking. He was greatly distressed by the political and social situation he found in China and expressed his despair in poems. He joined a group of anti- Communist intellectuals devoted to building a strong Chinese nation, but he soon dropped out, deciding that the political situation was hopeless. In the spring of 1926 Wen I-to and such other young poets at Peking as Hsu Chih-mo, Chu Hsiang (qq.v.), and Liu Meng-wei began to meet regularly at Wen's house for discussions about the new poetry. On 1 April 1926 they launched the Shih-chien [poetry weekly]. Although the magazine ceased publication in June, it had a strong influence on the technical development of the new forms of Chinese poetry which the group advocated. Wen I-to's poems of this period were collected and published in January 1928 as Ssu-shui [dead water]. The title poem, which may be interpreted as a symbolic description of China in the late 1920's, depicts a "ditch of dead and hopeless water" on which "no breeze can raise a ripple" and where "beauty can never stay." The poet then states: "Better abandon it to evil—/then, perhaps, some beauty will come out of it." Wen I-to resigned from the Peking Academy of Fine Arts and went to his home in Hupeh in the summer of 1926. That autumn, he went to Shanghai to become dean of students at National Political University (see Chang Chiasen). In 1927, after the National Government had moved to Wuhan, a friend secured a position for him as chief of the art section in the general political department under Teng Yen-ta (q.v.). After a month in that post, Wen resigned and returned to Shanghai. The Kuomintang at Shanghai closed National Political University, and Wen then went to Nanking, where he accepted a minor post in the Chiang Kai-shek regime. In the autumn of 1 927 he was appointed chairman of the department of foreign languages and literatures at National Fourth Chungshan (Sun Yat-sen) University at Nanking, the predecessor of National Central University.

In March 1928 Wen I-to joined such longtime friends as P'an Kuang-tan, Lo Lung-chi, Hu Shih (qq.v.), Hsu Chih-mo, and Liang Shihch'iu in founding the literary monthly Hsin-yueh [crescent moon] at Shanghai. This journal sought to introduce Western literature to Chinese readers and to promote an appreciation of pure aesthetics. Wen I-to, Hsu Chih-mo, and Jao Meng-k'an edited the journal and contributed translations to it. By mid- 1928, however, Wen I-to had give up the writing of poetry and other creative endeavors. That autumn, he left Nanking for Wuchang to become dean of the school of arts at Wuhan University and chairman of the department of Chinese language and literature. He resigned from the Hsin-yueh in April 1929, and thereafter his relationship with the Crescent Moon group gradually came to an end. He began to devote his attention to classical Chinese literature. In 1930 he moved to Tsingtao University, and in 1932 he became professor of Chinese literature at Tsinghua University. He remained on the Tsinghua faculty until his death.

After 1928 Wen became increasingly depressed about political and social conditions in China and increasingly introverted because of his depression. He neglected most of his friends and immersed himself in classical studies and in teaching. His intensive research in the history of Chinese classical literature and in T'ang and ancient poetry led him to the study of philology, ancient arts, and mythology. His major works in these fields include Shao-ling hsien-sheng nien-p'u hui-chien [a chronological biography of Tu Fu], of 1930-31; Ts'en Chia-chou hsi-nien k'ao-chang [a chronological biography of Ts'en Ts'an], of 1933; Shih-ching hsin-i [new interpretation of the Book of Odes], of 1934-37; Ch , u-tz , u chiao-pu [a textual study of Ch'ü Yuan's poetry], of 1934-42; Chou-i i-ching lei-tsuan [interpretation and authentication of the Book of Changes'], of 1941; and .an article, "Fu-hsi k'ao" [a study of the legend of Fu Hsi], of 1942. The outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war in 1937 interrupted Wen's quiet academic life. He moved with Tsinghua University to Changsha and then, in February-April 1938, he traveled with a group of more than 200 students through the mountainous areas between Changsha and Kunming. The trip revived his interest in art, and he made over 100 landscape drawings. At Kunming, Wen resumed his regular teaching and research work. Like all other professors at this time, he was caught in the accelerating wartime inflation. To support his family he had to augment his income by carving seals and by teaching in a middle school.

In the autumn of 1943 a nephew who just had left a student volunteer army group visited Wen, told him of the miserable life led by common soldiers in the Nationalist forces, and painted a dark picture of the military and political situation confronting China. Wen I-to was so shocked by this account that he retired into seclusion for a week to consider the right course for his own future career. He resolved to give up his isolated life and turn his attention to political and social problems facing China. He began to discuss contemporary affairs with his students and to read leftist literature. He reversed his previously unfavorable attitude toward the works of such radical writers as Lu Hsün (Chou Shu-jen, q.v.). In 1944, as the Japanese pressed forward into Kwangsi and Kweichow, Wen made speeches and published articles demanding that the National Government adopt "democratic measures" and mobilize "the masses of the people" to strengthen resistance to the Japanese. In December of that year, he was made an executive member of the China Democratic League's Yunnan provincial committee and an editor of the Min-chu chou-k'an [democratic weekly]. He became a member of the league's central committee, its Yunnan propaganda director, and president of the Min-chu chou-k'an in September 1945. During this period his office usually was crowded with liberal and leftist students and professors. After the Second World War ended, Wen I -to opposed the resumption of civil conflict between the Chinese Communists and the Nationalists. He denied baseless rumors that he had joined the Chinese Communist party. On 9 July 1946 Li Kung-p'u, one of his colleagues in the Democratic League, was assassinated in Kunming. An anti-Communist group alleged that Li had been killed by the Communists and warned that Wen would be the next victim. On the morning of 15 July 1946 Wen, disregarding these warnings, attended Li Kung-p'u's funeral and made a speech accusing National Government agents of committing the murder. On his way home late that afternoon, Wen I-to was shot and killed by assassins. He was survived by his wife, three sons, and two daughters. As a poet, Wen I-to contributed to the development of a new poetic form in China by fusing Western techniques, Chinese and Western images, and classical Chinese poetic diction in a new vernacular style. As a scholar, he combined orthodox Chinese and Western methodology. His complete works were collected and edited by Chu Tzu-ch'ing (q.v.) and others and were published in four volumes in 1948 as Wen I-to ch'uan-chi.