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Chiang Yee Wikipedia

Chiang Yee (born 1903) is a China|Chinese poet, author, painter and calligrapher. (Later Jiang Yi under the Pinyin spelling system) self-styled as "The Silent Traveller".

Born in Jiujiang, China, Chiang wrote a number of books mostly entitled "The Silent Traveller in...." . These books included the following, possibly a complete list: The Silent Traveller in Edinburgh; London; Oxford; the Yorkshire Dales; Dublin; Paris; New York; San Francisco; Boston; Japan; The Silent Traveller in Wartime; and "The Silent Traveller: a Chinese Artist in Lakeland" (written from a journal of a fortnight in the English Lake District in August 1936). The earliest ones were published just before the Second World War, after he was exiled from China in 1933, leaving his wife and family behind. He had been a governor of several counties before that.

The books characteristically bring a fresh 'sideways look' in a peaceful and non-judgemental way to places perhaps unfamiliar at the time to a Chinese national: the author was struck by things the locals might not notice, such as beards, or the fact that the so-called Lion's Haunch on Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh is actually far more like a sleeping elephant. In his wartime books, Chiang Yee made it plain that he was fervently opposed to Nazism. His writings exude a feeling of positive curiosity, life-enhancing in a unique way. Some of his books have been re-issued in modern times, sometimes with fresh introductions.

After living for some years in a small flat in London and being obliged, during the war, neither to travel nor to take part in the hostilities, on account of being classed as an 'alien', he moved to the United States in 1955, where he became a lecturer (and ultimately Emeritus Professor of Chinese) at Columbia University and taught poetry at Harvard. He illustrated all his books, including several for children, and he wrote a standard tome on Calligraphy|Chinese calligraphy. He died in 1977 in his seventies. He spent over forty years away from his homeland.

Last Modified:   2005-11-07