Pierre Ryckmans, also known as Simon Leys, was a multifaceted individual with a rich and diverse background. Born on September 28, 1935, in Uccle, an upper-middle-class district of Brussels, Belgium, he was the son of a prominent publisher and the grandson of Alfonse Ryckmans, an Antwerp alderman and vice president of the Senate.
Ryckmans was educated at the Servites de Marie primary school, where he developed an unwavering Christian faith under the guidance of his teacher, abbé Voussure. He then attended the Cardinal Mercier diocesan school in Braine-l'Alleud, where he studied Greek and Latin humanities.
From 1953, Ryckmans studied law and art history at the Université catholique de Louvain, where he became fascinated with Chinese culture and language. In 1955, his father's premature death led him to become part of a delegation of young Belgians invited to spend a month in China. During this trip, he had a conversation with Premier Zhou Enlai, which deepened his admiration for the Maoist regime.
Ryckmans returned to Belgium and completed his studies in art history, while also learning calligraphy. In the summer of 1958, he embarked on a tuna fishing expedition in Étel, French Brittany, which he later wrote about in his book Prosper, published 45 years later.
In 1959, Ryckmans received a small bursary from the Chiang Kai-shek government and enrolled at the Fine Arts department of the National Taiwan University, where he studied under the guidance of Pu Hsin-yu, a cousin of Pu Yi, the last emperor. During his time in Taiwan, he conducted research for his future PhD dissertation on Shitao, a Chinese painter at the time of the Qing empire.
Ryckmans' work as a writer, essayist, and literary critic focused on various topics, including the politics and traditional culture of China, calligraphy, French and English literature, the commercialization of universities, and nautical fiction. His trilogy, Les Habits neufs du président Mao, Ombres chinoises, and Images brisées, published between 1971 and 1976, was one of the first intellectual critiques of the Cultural Revolution in China and the idolizing of Mao in the West.
Ryckmans lived in Australia from 1970 and continued to write and publish his work, which was widely acclaimed for its insight and depth. He passed away on August 11, 2014, leaving behind a legacy as a brilliant and versatile individual who made significant contributions to various fields.
