Sang Ye (born 1955) is the pen name of Shen Dajun, a Chinese journalist, oral historian, and collector. He is the author of two oral histories, Chinese Lives: An Oral History of Contemporary China (co-authored with the novelist Zhang Xinxin), and China Candid: The People on the People's Republic. Originally trained as an electrical engineer, following a short course at Beijing Normal University in 1978 he began working as a freelance journalist.[1] Described as a "remarkably gifted interviewer" with a "wholly unexpected, free-and-easy style" by Studs Terkel,[2] Sang Ye has been praised for providing a unique perspective on China in the Reform and Opening Up era, "[bringing] to light the way people make sense of the world through telling themselves stories about their personal journeys."[3]
Sang Ye
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| Native name |
桑晔
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| Born | 1955 Beijing |
| Genre | Oral history |
| Notable works | Chinese Lives, China Candid |
In 1990, his personal archive of monographs, posters, recordings and newspapers from the Cultural Revolution was purchased by the National Library of Australia.[1]
| Sang Ye | |||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 桑曄 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 桑晔 | ||||||
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Sang Ye's paternal grandfather was originally from Zhejiang province, eventually coming to own a curios shop in Beijing. His father, who studied civil law, was an early member of the Chinese Communist Party. Sang Ye's maternal grandfather was a lawyer who worked for the Japanese occupation in Manchuria. After graduating from St. Joan’s Girls College, a French Catholic school founded by the Daughters of Charity, his mother became a physical education teacher.[4][5] Sang Ye's parents divorced in 1971, an event which Nicholas Jose has argued provided a formative experience of "the gulf between noble words and shabby conduct, and the misery caused by double standards and hypocrisy in Chinese society."[5]
Since the late 1980s, Sang Ye has been married to the Australian scholar of Chinese criminal justice, governance and law Susan Trevaskes.[6] Trevaskes and Sang Ye met in 1987, during a tour of Australia on the invitation of the Australia-China Council and the Literature Board of the Australia Council.[5][6] After returning briefly to live in Beijing, following the events of June 4 1989, Sang Ye was evacuated to Australia with his family, eventually settling in Brisbane.[1]
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