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Liu Bannong or Liu Fu (Chinese: 刘半农/劉半農; 刘复/劉復; 1891–1934) was a Chinese poet and linguist. He was a leader in the May Fourth movement.

Life

Liu Bannong joined Chen Duxiu at Peking University in 1917, studied in England and France in the early 1920s, and taught in the field of phonology at colleges in Beijing.

Literatry reform

Invited by Chen Duxiu, Liu Bannong became an important contributor to the influential magazine New Youth (Xin Qingnian) during the May Fourth Movement, starting from 1916.

He suggested four areas of literary reform in 1917, and proposes to differentiate the concept of literature in Chinese (wenxue) from that of language by resorting to the English definition of literature. More importantly, to clarify the concept of literature, he translated an amount of English linguistic contexts (literature, language, tongue, and speech).

"What is literature? This question has been discussed by many authors. One might argue that 'literature conveys Dao.' But Dao is Dao; literature is literature." —Liu Bannong 劉半農 , "My View on Literary Reform: What is literature?" ( 我之文學改良觀 ), 1917.

Works

Poems

Liu Bannong created a new form of poetry, called unrhymed poems. He was an important composer of children's poetry.

Published Poetry

• Wafu ji [瓦釜集/The earthen pot; 1926]
• Yangbian ji [揚鞭集/Flourishing the whip; 1926]

Essayistic Writings

• Bannong zawen [半農雜文/Mixed writings by Bannong; 1934]

Art Photography

Liu Bannong has published Bannong tan ying, [Bannong on Photography]