Hsiung Shih-I

Hsiung Shih-I (also S. I. Hsiung or Xiong Shiyi; 1902–1991) was a writer, biographer, translator, academic, and playwright in Beijing and London.

He was the first Chinese person to direct a West End play, and the founder of Tsing Hua Academy in Hong Kong.

Hsiung was born in Nanchang on October 14, 1902, and educated at Beijing University (then Peiping University).

As a professor and writer in China, Hsiung translated plays by George Bernard Shaw and J.M. Barrie.

He also published a successful Chinese translation of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

He taught at universities in Beijing and Nanchang as well as Nanyang University in Singapore.

In 1932, he moved to England, studying English literature at Queen Mary College, University of London and translating Chinese plays into English.

After the success of Lady Precious Stream in 1934, however, he abandoned his studies.

In 1935, Hsiung's Lady Precious Stream, based on the Chinese folklore Wang Baochuan and Xue Pinggui, was performed at the Little Theatre in John Street, London, by the People's National Theatre, directed by Nancy Price and Hsiung, and ran for 1,000 nights.

The play was also later performed on Broadway at the Booth Theatre in New York, produced by Morris Gest.

It was adapted for television in 1950.

Hsiung's subsequent works were also successful, but did not match the success of Lady Precious Stream.

Hsiung's wife, Dymia Hsiung, was the first Chinese woman in Britain to author a fictionalized autobiography.

They shared a flat in Hampstead with fellow expatriate Chiang Yee, author of The Silent Traveller series.

Hsiung’s great-grandson is comedian Ken Cheng.