# Qu Bo (writer)

Qu Bo (Chinese: 曲波; pinyin: Qū Bō; 1923–2002) was a Chinese novelist. His name was also translated as Chu Po. Qǔ (曲), the family name, has meanings of curve, melody and tune. Bō (波) stands for ripples and waves. His first book Tracks in the Snowy Forest (林海雪原) made him one of the most popular authors at the time.

## Life

Born in Zaolinzhuang Village (枣林庄; Zǎolín Zhuāng), Huang County (now Longkou), at the north-east coast of Shandong province, Qu Bo's early education was through a private school where he started to gain his sound knowledge of Chinese classical literature and succinct language skills. His father, Qu Chunyang (曲春阳; Qǔ Chūnyáng) and mother, Qu Liushi (曲刘氏; Qǔ Liúshì) owned a small business of cotton dyeing, which failed when western textiles poured into China.
In 1938, at the age of 15, he left home and fought in the war against the Japanese invasion (Second Sino-Japanese War). His name was changed from his childhood name Qu Qingtao (曲清涛; Qǔ Qīngtāo) into Qu Bo by the officials of the Eighth Route Army. Qu Bo had further education at the Counter-Japanese Military and Political University in Shandong and became a journalist of an army newspaper, The Progress. The army turned into the People's Liberation Army after the Japanese surrendered, and Qu Bo continued to battle in the Chinese civil war in the northeast of China, protecting the regional civilians from robbery and killings by the regional bandits and brigands. In the army, he served as a young literacy teacher, a political commissar and finally a colonel. In 1946 he married Liu Bo (刘波; Liú Bō) who was a head nurse of a hospital at the same army regional headquarters.
During the communist regime after 1949, Qu Bo worked in the railway industry and the Ministry of Machinery until his retirement, and lived in Beijing for the rest of his life.
Qu Bo was an active member of the China Writers'Association, and was recognised as a Chinese contemporary writer in the history of Chinese Literature. He had, however, never stopped his full-time industrial management jobs and only wrote books and articles during his spare time. He visited Russia, Pakistan and England as an author as well as industrial director. His novels were made into films, Beijing Opera musicals and TV shows.
Qu Bo's Family: See 曲波 (作家) in Chinese Wikipedia. Qu Leilei, Artist and member of Xingxing (Stars) group, is one of his son. QU LEI LEI is an internationally renowned artist, mainly as a painter and draftsman. He was born in the Heilongjiang province, China, and grew up during the political and turbulence of the Chinese cultural revolution. He is currently based in London but works between London, Devon and Beijing. QU Lei Lei is a founding member of the ‚Stars‘ movement, a group of art students who set up the first ever contemporary art movement to appear in China between 1979 and 1983. Their campaign for freedom of expression breaks the stranglehold of the Communist Party orthodoxy and opens the path for freedom of artistic expression in China. QU Lei Lei first exhibits in China and then at the Venice Biennale, the Beijing Biennale and the Pompidou Centre in Paris. QU Lei Lei's works are displayed in the Ashmolean Museum in London as well as in Oxford and form part of the permanent collections of the China National Museum. Some of his art works have recently been acquired by the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). QU Lei Lei builds bridges between cultures by his extraordinary mastery of ink on paper, be it for his Hands, like painters of the Dutch school or from the Italian renaissance; for his nudes, like modern French painters; and for his Chinese soldiers. All his art works exude intelligence and humanity.