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Han Suyin (; 12 September 1916 or 19172 November 2012)〔(Shanghai Daily )〕 was the pen name of Elizabeth Comber, born Rosalie Matilda Kuanghu Chou ().〔Alison Lake, "(Han Suyin, Chinese-born author of ‘A Many-Splendoured Thing,’ dies at 95 )," ''Washington Post'', 4 November 2012: "She later changed her middle name to Elizabeth, the name she preferred."〕 She was a China-born Eurasian,〔(Time Magazine, 13 November 2006: ''Han Suyin – In voicing her Eurasian identity, she defined a people'' ) Retrieved 2012-05-17〕 a physician, and author of books in English and French on modern China, novels set in East and Southeast Asia, and autobiographical memoirs which covered the span of modern China. These writings gained her a reputation as an ardent and articulate supporter of the Chinese Communist revolution. She lived in Lausanne until her death. ==Biography== Han Suyin was born in Xinyang, Henan, China. Her father was a Belgian-educated Chinese engineer, Chou Wei (; pinyin: Zhōu Wěi), of Hakka heritage, while her mother was Flemish. She began work as a typist at Peking Union Medical College in 1931, not yet fifteen years old. In 1933 she was admitted to Yenching University where she felt she was discriminated against as a Eurasian. In 1935 she went to Brussels to study medicine. In 1938 she returned to China, married Tang Pao-Huang (), a Chinese Nationalist military officer, who was to become a general. She worked as a midwife in an American Christian mission hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan. Her first novel, ''Destination Chungking'' (1942), was based on her experiences during this period. In 1940, she and her husband adopted their daughter, Tang Yungmei.〔(Ding Jiandong: ''Han Suyin Research'' ) Retrieved 2012-05-17〕 In 1953, she adopted another daughter, Chew Hui-Im (Hueiying) in Singapore.〔Han Suyin, "My house has two doors." (Jonathan Cape Ltd, London. 1980. ISBN 0-224-01702-0), p. 217〕 In 1944 she went to London to continue her studies in medicine at the Royal Free Hospital. In 1947, while she was still in London, her husband died in action during the Chinese Civil War. She graduated MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine & Surgery) with Honours in 1948 and in 1949 went to Hong Kong to practice medicine at the Queen Mary Hospital. There she met and fell in love with Ian Morrison, a married Australian war correspondent based in Singapore, who was killed in Korea in 1950. She portrayed their relationship in the novel ''A Many-Splendoured Thing'' (1952) and the factual basis of their relationship is documented in her autobiography ''My House Has Two Doors'' (1980).〔Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. In her autobiography, ''My House Has Two Doors,'' she distanced herself from the film, saying that although the film was shown for many weeks at the Cathay Cinema in Singapore to packed audiences, she never went to see it, and that the film rights were sold to pay for an operation on her adopted daughter who was suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. Much later, the movie itself was made into a daytime soap opera, ''Love Is a Many Splendored Thing,'' which ran from 1967 to 1973 on American TV. In 1956, she published the novel ''And the Rain My Drink,'' whose description of the guerrilla war of Chinese rubber workers against the government was perceived very anti-British, and Comber is said to have resigned as acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Special Branch mainly because of this. In a 2008 interview, he said: "The novel portrayed the British security forces in a rather slanted fashion, I thought. She was a rather pro-Left intellectual and a doctor. I understood the reasons why the communists might have felt the way they did, but I didn't agree with them taking up arms."〔Martin Vengadesan, (The officer who loved Malaya ), The Star online, 30 November 2008.〕 After resigning, he moved into book publishing as the local representative for London publisher Heinemann.〔(Monash Asia Institute: Dr Leon Comber ) Retrieved 2012-05-17〕 Han Suyin and Comber divorced in 1958. In 1960 Han married Vincent Ratnaswamy, an Indian colonel, and lived for a time in Bangalore, India. They later resided in Hong Kong and Switzerland, where she remained, living in Lausanne. Although later separated, they remained married until Ratnaswamy's death in January 2003. After 1956, Han visited China almost annually. She was one of the first foreign nationals to visit post-1949 revolution China, including through the years of the Cultural Revolution. In 1974 she was the featured speaker at the founding national convention of the US China Peoples Friendship Association in Los Angeles. Han died in Lausanne on 2 November 2012, aged 95. She is survived by two daughters, Tang Yung Mei and Chew Hui Im. A very human account of Han Suyin, the physician, author, and woman, occurs in G. M. Glaskin's "A Many-Splendoured Woman: A Memoir of Han Suyin".〔Gerald Marcus Glaskin, ''A Many-Splendoured Woman: A Memoir of Han Suyin.'' (Graham Brash, Singapore. 1995. ISBN 978-981-218-045-2)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Han Suyin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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