The eight Li brothers, also referred to as the Eight Stallions of the Li Family, are eight brothers from the Li family of Xiangtan, Hunan, China, who all thrived in the 20th century and achieved national or international fame. The best known among them are Li Jinxi, the "father of the Chinese phonetic alphabet" and teacher of Mao Zedong; Li Jinhui, the "father of Chinese popular music"; and Chin Yang Lee, whose bestselling novelThe Flower Drum Song was adapted into a Broadway musical and an Oscar-nominated Hollywood film.
Background
The Li 黎 clan of Xiangtan has been one of the most prominent clans of Hunan Province since the Qing dynasty. It produced high-ranking officials including investigating censor, Governor of Guizhou, Governor of Taiwan Prefecture, as well as many scholars, writers and scientists such as and his son Norman N. Li. The Li brothers were the sons of scholar Li Song'an and his wife Huang Geng. Their grandfather, Li Baotang, was a Qing imperial official. The brothers were all born in their family home in Lingjiao Village, Zhonglupu Town, Xiangtan County. They also had three sisters, who were trained in calligraphy but did not receive the same level of education as the brothers.
The eldest brother, Li Jinxi, was a distinguished linguist considered the "father of the Chinese phonetic alphabet". He taught Mao Zedong, a fellow native of Xiangtan, and served as President of Beijing Normal University. The second brother, Li Jinhui, was a pioneering songwriter who created the shidaiqu genre, founded the Bright Moon Song and Dance Troupe, and promoted the careers of China's most popular singers. He is widely considered the "father of Chinese popular music". The third brother, Li Jinyao, was a mining engineer and chief editor of the China Mining Journal. He died in Hainan while prospecting for mining resources. The fourth brother, Li Jinshu, was an educator, the first Ph.D. and the first communist of the Li brothers. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Berlin, and became a Communist Party member in 1925 while studying in Germany. After returning to China, he dedicated himself to the promotion of education among the common people, and published the book The Artof Education. The fifth brother, Li Jinjiong, was a railway and bridge engineer. He designed the Luan River Bridge in 1929, the first major railway bridge in North China. A leading engineer in the Ministry of Railways, he participated in the design of the Baoji–Chengdu, Chengdu–Chongqing, and Yingtan–Xiamen railways, as well as the Nanjing and Wuhan Yangtze River Bridges. The sixth brother, Li Jinming, was a writer best known for the novel The Shadow of Dust, one of the first Chinese novels about peasant movements. The seventh brother, Li Jinguang, was a composer who wrote many popular songs, including "Evening Primrose" made famous by Yoshiko Yamaguchi. He worked in Jinhui's troupe and served for a decade as music editor at Pathé Records. He is also considered a pioneer of Chinese popular music. The eighth and youngest brother, Li Jinyang, known in the West as Chin Yang Lee, was an author who wrote the bestselling 1957 novel The Flower Drum Song, about Chinese immigrants in the United States. It was adapted into the Broadway musical Flower Drum Song and the eponymous 1961 film which was nominated for five Academy Awards. He was the only Li brother who settled abroad.
Legacy
The family home of the Li brothers in Lingjiao, Xiangtan, is preserved as a protected historic site of Hunan.
