Shen Congwen
At the end of 1928, Hu, Ding, and their close friend, writer Shen Congwen, left Beijing for Shanghai. The trio founded the Red and Black Publishing House and its journal "Red and Black". The venture was unsuccessful, and closed soon afterwards. To repay his debts, Hu accepted a teaching job at the provincial high school in Jinan, the capital of Shandong province, in 1929. According to linguist Ji Xianlin, who was a student at the high school, the arrival of Hu Yepin and his fashionable wife Ding Ling from Shanghai caused a sensation at the school.