Artist and teacher who brought Western painting and music into Chinese schools, then became a Buddhist monk in 1918. His song 送别, which begins 长亭外, is still sung at graduations.
'Farewell' is a famous song with lyrics written by Li Shutong.
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culture
Three days before he died in 1942 he wrote his last words: 悲欣交集 'sorrow and joy mingled'. As a student in Japan in 1906 he co-founded the 春柳社, whose staging of 茶花女 (La Dame aux Camélias) is counted as the start of Chinese spoken drama.
culture
The tune of 送别 is American: 'Dreaming of Home and Mother', written by John P. Ordway in 1868. Li met it in Japan as the school song 旅愁 (Ryoshū) and set his Chinese words to it in 1915.
