Mao Dun
Encyclopedia
Mao Dun was the pen name
of Shen Dehong (Shen Yanbing), a 20th century Chinese
novelist, cultural critic, and journalist
. He was also the Minister of Culture of China
from 1949 to 1965. He is currently renowned as one of the best realist novelists in the history of modern China. His most famous works are Midnight, a grand novel depicting life in cosmopolitan Shanghai
, and Spring Silkworms
. He also wrote many short stories.
He adopted 'Mao Dun' (矛盾), meaning "contradiction", as his pen name to express the tension in the conflicting revolutionary ideology in China in the unstable 1920s. His friend Ye Shengtao
changed the first character from 矛 to 茅, which literally means "thatch", to protect him from political persecution.
Mao Dun had already started to develop his writing skills when he was still in primary school. In one examination the examiner commented on Mao Dun's script: '12 year old young child, can make this language, not says motherland nobody'. There were other similar comments which indicate that Mao Dun had been a brilliant writer since his youth.
While Mao Dun was studying in secondary school in Hangzhou
, extensive reading and strict writing skills training filled his life. He finished reading Illustrious Definite orders (《昭明文選》), Shi Shuo Xin Yu (《世說新語》) and a large number of classical novels. These novels influenced his writing style and his idea of writing.
Mao Dun entered the three-year foundation school offered by Peking University
in 1913, in which he studied Chinese and Western literature. Due to financial difficulties, he had to quit in the summer of 1916, before his graduation.
The trainings in Chinese and English as well as knowledge of Chinese and Western literature provided by the fifteen years' education Mao Dun received had prepared him to show up in the limelight of the Chinese journalistic and literary arena.
(商務印書館), Shanghai
branch. At the age of 21, he was invitied to be the assistant editor of Xuesheng Zazhi (學生雜誌) (Students' Magazine) under the Commercial Press, which had published many articles about the new ideologies that had emerged in China at that time.
Apart from editing, Mao Dun also started to write about his social thoughts and criticisms. To some extent, he was inspired by the famous magazine New Youth
. Like in 1917 and 1918, he wrote two editorials for Xuesheng Zazhi: Students and Society (學生與社會) and The Students of 1918, those were significant in stimulating political consciousness among the young educated Chinese.
At 24 years of age, Mao Dun was already renowned as a novelist by the community in general, and in 1920, he and a group of young writers took over the magazine Xiaoshuo Yuebao (小说月报), which translated means "fiction monthly", to publish literature by western authors, such as Tolstoy
, Chekhov
, Balzac
, Flaubert
, Zola
, Byron
, Keats
, Shaw
, etc., and make new theories of literature better known. Despite the fact that he was a naturalistic novelist, he admired writers like Leo Tolstoy
, for their great artistic style.
In 1920, he was invited to edit a new column: Xiaoshuo Xinchao (小說新潮) (The Fiction-New-Waves) in Xiaoshuo Yuebao. He even took up the post of Chief Editor of the Monthly in the same year and was obliged to reform it thoroughly, in response to the New Cultural Movement
(五四運動/新文化運動). His young writer friends in Beijing
supported him by submitting their creative writings, translating Western literature and their views on new literature theories and techniques to the magazines. Wenxue Yanjiuhui (文學研究會) (Literature Study Group) was formed partly because of this. The reformed Monthly was proved to be a success. It had facilitated the continuation of the New Cultural Movement by selling ten thousand copies a month and more importantly by introducing Literature for life, a brand new realistic approach to Chinese literature. In this period, Mao Dun had become a leading figure of the movement in the southern part of China.
On the notion of content reformation, both the innovative and conservative parties in the Commercial Press could not make a compromise. Mao Dun resigned from the Chief Editor of Fiction Monthly in 1923, but in 1927 he became the chief columnist of the Minguo yuebao. He wrote more than 30 editorials for this newspaper to criticize Chiang Kai-shek
, and to support revolutions.
of 1917 in Russia, Mao Dun took part in the May Fourth Movement in China. In 1920, he joined the Shanghai Communist Team, and helped to establish the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. At first, he worked as a liaison for the party. He also wrote for the party magazine 'The Communist Party' (共产党).
At the same time, Mao Dun participated in Chiang Kai-shek
's Northern Expedition (1926–1928), the main purpose was to unite the country. He quit, however, when Chiang's Kuomintang
broke with the Communists
. In July 1928, he went to Japan in order to take refuge. As he returned to China in 1930, he joined the League of the Left-Wing Writers
. Later, China went to war with Japan and he actively engaged in resisting the Japanese attack in 1937. In 1949, the communist government took over and he was responsible for working as Mao Zedong
's secretary and Culture Minister until 1964.
, Xu Dishan
, Bing Xin
, Ye Shengtao
, had their works published through it. Mao Dun supported movements such as "New Literature" and "New Thinking". He believed that Chinese literature should have a place in the world.
The experience of political conflict broadened his horizon in literature, therefore the theme of his later writing was mostly based on this. He then helped to found the League of Left-Wing Writers in 1930. After that, he worked together with Lu Xun
to fight for the right of the society and the revolutionary movement in literature. The harvest period of Mao Dun's writing is considered to have been from 1927 to 1937.
Shi, the first actual novel written by Mao Dun, was composed of three volumes, Huanmie (1927), Dongyao (1928), and Zhuiqiu (1928). It is the story of a generation of young intellectuals, who are caught up in the world of revolutionary fervor without a true understanding of the nature of social change. Mao Dun participated in Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition (1926–28) in an attempt to unite China
, but this failed and he fled to Kuling, when the Kuomingtang dissolved relations with the Chinese Communist Party. In the 1930s he was one of the key founders of the League of Left-Wing Writers, which was dissolved in a quarrel in 1936.
Mao Dun's next major work was Hong (1929), which became famous for having no less than 70 main characters and numerous plot twists and turns. In 1933 came his next grand work, Midnight, which gained great popularity, to a point that it was also published in French and English, and it allowed to develop a sense of revolutionary realism.
He left a work unfinished, the trilogy Shuangye Hongsi Eryuehua (1942). After the initiation of the Sino-Japanese War
War in 1937, Mao traveled to many places and started a literary magazine in Wuhan
. He edited the periodical Literary Front and the literary page of the newspaper Libao in Hong Kong
and worked as a teacher. After 1943 Mao Dun did not produce any major works, but still wrote some articles and essays. In 1946 he visited the Soviet Union
.
In 1927, he published his first novel, Disillusion (幻滅). His most famous and important novel, Midnight (子夜), was published in 1933. It is a naturalistic novel exploring the commercial world of Shanghai in detail. In addition, his fiction offered a sympathetic portrayal of working-class life and praise of revolution.
When the People's Republic of China
was established by the Communist Party of China in 1949, he became active on several committees and he worked as the Secretary and then the Minister of Culture for Mao Zedong
until 1964. He started the monthly literary journal Chinese Literature, which became the most popular for western readers. He was dismissed from his position as minister in 1964 due to the ideological upheavals. Despite this fact, Mao Dun survived the Cultural Revolution
and was afterwards rehabilitated. In the 1970s he became an editor of a children's magazine, and began working on his memoirs, which were serialized in the Party publication, the quarterly Xinwenxue Shiliao (新文學史料) (Historical Materials on New Literature), but he died on March 27, 1981 before he could finish it. His influence on Chinese literature
continues to the present day because he used his savings to set up a fund called the Mao Dun Literature Scholarship to promote an atmosphere for writing fiction.
Mao Dun's achievements in literature were also seen at his 50th birthday, which was also the 25th anniversary of his literary life. More than five hundred guests came to celebrate with him. Russian and American friends also joined the celebration. Wong Roufei wrote an essay as congratulations on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party. Mao Dun's influence and achievements in the literary field were witnessed. On the other hand, he was twice elected as the chairman and then once elected as the vice-chairman of the China Literary Arts Representative Assembly. His status in the literary field has been highly recognized. Although he suffered great pain from illness in his old age, he still kept writing his memoirs, called The Road I Walked (我走過的路).
Besides his achievements, Mao Dun also had great influence on Chinese literature. The Mao Dun Literature Prize
(茅盾文學獎) was created due to Mao Dun's wish that outstanding novels should be encouraged and communist literature should be promoted. It is one of the most honorable literature awards in China. Many famous modern Chinese literary authors like Wei Wei (魏巍) and Zhou Ke-qin (周克芹) have received the prize.
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
of Shen Dehong (Shen Yanbing), a 20th century Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
novelist, cultural critic, and journalist
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
. He was also the Minister of Culture of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
from 1949 to 1965. He is currently renowned as one of the best realist novelists in the history of modern China. His most famous works are Midnight, a grand novel depicting life in cosmopolitan Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, and Spring Silkworms
Spring Silkworms
Spring Silkworms is a novella by the Chinese author Mao Dun about the experience of Chinese villagers engaging in sericulture.-History:Mao Dun dates the story November 1, 1932...
. He also wrote many short stories.
He adopted 'Mao Dun' (矛盾), meaning "contradiction", as his pen name to express the tension in the conflicting revolutionary ideology in China in the unstable 1920s. His friend Ye Shengtao
Ye Shengtao
Ye Shengtao was a prominent author, educator and publisher. He was one of the founders of the Association for Literary Studies , the first literature association during the May Fourth Movement in China....
changed the first character from 矛 to 茅, which literally means "thatch", to protect him from political persecution.
Early life
His father Shen Yongxi (沈永錫) taught and designed the curriculum for his son, but he died when Mao Dun was ten. Mao Dun's mother Chen Aizhu (陳愛珠) then became his teacher. He mentions in his memoirs that "my first instructor is my mother". Through learning from his parents, Mao Dun developed great interest in writing during his childhood.Mao Dun had already started to develop his writing skills when he was still in primary school. In one examination the examiner commented on Mao Dun's script: '12 year old young child, can make this language, not says motherland nobody'. There were other similar comments which indicate that Mao Dun had been a brilliant writer since his youth.
While Mao Dun was studying in secondary school in Hangzhou
Hangzhou
Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
, extensive reading and strict writing skills training filled his life. He finished reading Illustrious Definite orders (《昭明文選》), Shi Shuo Xin Yu (《世說新語》) and a large number of classical novels. These novels influenced his writing style and his idea of writing.
Mao Dun entered the three-year foundation school offered by Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
in 1913, in which he studied Chinese and Western literature. Due to financial difficulties, he had to quit in the summer of 1916, before his graduation.
The trainings in Chinese and English as well as knowledge of Chinese and Western literature provided by the fifteen years' education Mao Dun received had prepared him to show up in the limelight of the Chinese journalistic and literary arena.
Journalistic career
After graduation, Mao Dun soon got his first job in the English editing and translation sections of the Commercial PressCommercial Press
-History:In 1897, 26-year-old Xia Ruifang and three of his friends founded The Commercial Press in Shanghai. The group soon received financial backing and began publishing books. In 1914, Xia attempted to buy out a Japanese company that had invested in the Commercial Press. Four days later he was...
(商務印書館), Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
branch. At the age of 21, he was invitied to be the assistant editor of Xuesheng Zazhi (學生雜誌) (Students' Magazine) under the Commercial Press, which had published many articles about the new ideologies that had emerged in China at that time.
Apart from editing, Mao Dun also started to write about his social thoughts and criticisms. To some extent, he was inspired by the famous magazine New Youth
New Youth
La Jeunesse, or New Youth was an influential Chinese revolutionary magazine in the 1920s that played an important role during the May Fourth Movement....
. Like in 1917 and 1918, he wrote two editorials for Xuesheng Zazhi: Students and Society (學生與社會) and The Students of 1918, those were significant in stimulating political consciousness among the young educated Chinese.
At 24 years of age, Mao Dun was already renowned as a novelist by the community in general, and in 1920, he and a group of young writers took over the magazine Xiaoshuo Yuebao (小说月报), which translated means "fiction monthly", to publish literature by western authors, such as Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
, Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
, Balzac
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
, Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert was a French writer who is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary , and for his scrupulous devotion to his art and style.-Early life and education:Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821, in Rouen,...
, Zola
Émile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
, Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
, Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
, Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
, etc., and make new theories of literature better known. Despite the fact that he was a naturalistic novelist, he admired writers like Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
, for their great artistic style.
In 1920, he was invited to edit a new column: Xiaoshuo Xinchao (小說新潮) (The Fiction-New-Waves) in Xiaoshuo Yuebao. He even took up the post of Chief Editor of the Monthly in the same year and was obliged to reform it thoroughly, in response to the New Cultural Movement
May Fourth Movement
The May Fourth Movement was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student demonstrations in Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting the Chinese government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles, especially the Shandong Problem...
(五四運動/新文化運動). His young writer friends in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
supported him by submitting their creative writings, translating Western literature and their views on new literature theories and techniques to the magazines. Wenxue Yanjiuhui (文學研究會) (Literature Study Group) was formed partly because of this. The reformed Monthly was proved to be a success. It had facilitated the continuation of the New Cultural Movement by selling ten thousand copies a month and more importantly by introducing Literature for life, a brand new realistic approach to Chinese literature. In this period, Mao Dun had become a leading figure of the movement in the southern part of China.
On the notion of content reformation, both the innovative and conservative parties in the Commercial Press could not make a compromise. Mao Dun resigned from the Chief Editor of Fiction Monthly in 1923, but in 1927 he became the chief columnist of the Minguo yuebao. He wrote more than 30 editorials for this newspaper to criticize Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
, and to support revolutions.
Political life
Inspired by the October RevolutionOctober Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
of 1917 in Russia, Mao Dun took part in the May Fourth Movement in China. In 1920, he joined the Shanghai Communist Team, and helped to establish the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. At first, he worked as a liaison for the party. He also wrote for the party magazine 'The Communist Party' (共产党).
At the same time, Mao Dun participated in Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
's Northern Expedition (1926–1928), the main purpose was to unite the country. He quit, however, when Chiang's Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
broke with the Communists
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
. In July 1928, he went to Japan in order to take refuge. As he returned to China in 1930, he joined the League of the Left-Wing Writers
League of the Left-Wing Writers
The League of the Left-Wing Writers was an organization of writers formed in China in 1930, at the instigation of the Chinese Communist Party and the influence of the celebrated author Lu Xun. Other members included leaders of the Sun Society and the Creation Society, and the later-infamous...
. Later, China went to war with Japan and he actively engaged in resisting the Japanese attack in 1937. In 1949, the communist government took over and he was responsible for working as Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
's secretary and Culture Minister until 1964.
As a literary man
Xiaoshuo Yuebao Reform was Mao Dun's first contribution to Chinese literature. The magazine then became a place where "New Literature" circulated. Many famous writers like Lu XunLu Xun
Lu Xun or Lu Hsün , was the pen name of Zhou Shuren , one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua as well as classical Chinese...
, Xu Dishan
Xu Dishan
Xu Dishan is a Chinese author, translator and folklorist. He is best known for his chinese novels that focuses on the people of the southern provinces of China and Southeast Asia....
, Bing Xin
Bing Xin
Bingxin was one of the most prolific and esteemed Chinese writers of the 20th Century. Many of her works were written for young readers...
, Ye Shengtao
Ye Shengtao
Ye Shengtao was a prominent author, educator and publisher. He was one of the founders of the Association for Literary Studies , the first literature association during the May Fourth Movement in China....
, had their works published through it. Mao Dun supported movements such as "New Literature" and "New Thinking". He believed that Chinese literature should have a place in the world.
The experience of political conflict broadened his horizon in literature, therefore the theme of his later writing was mostly based on this. He then helped to found the League of Left-Wing Writers in 1930. After that, he worked together with Lu Xun
Lu Xun
Lu Xun or Lu Hsün , was the pen name of Zhou Shuren , one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua as well as classical Chinese...
to fight for the right of the society and the revolutionary movement in literature. The harvest period of Mao Dun's writing is considered to have been from 1927 to 1937.
Shi, the first actual novel written by Mao Dun, was composed of three volumes, Huanmie (1927), Dongyao (1928), and Zhuiqiu (1928). It is the story of a generation of young intellectuals, who are caught up in the world of revolutionary fervor without a true understanding of the nature of social change. Mao Dun participated in Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition (1926–28) in an attempt to unite China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, but this failed and he fled to Kuling, when the Kuomingtang dissolved relations with the Chinese Communist Party. In the 1930s he was one of the key founders of the League of Left-Wing Writers, which was dissolved in a quarrel in 1936.
Mao Dun's next major work was Hong (1929), which became famous for having no less than 70 main characters and numerous plot twists and turns. In 1933 came his next grand work, Midnight, which gained great popularity, to a point that it was also published in French and English, and it allowed to develop a sense of revolutionary realism.
He left a work unfinished, the trilogy Shuangye Hongsi Eryuehua (1942). After the initiation of the Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
War in 1937, Mao traveled to many places and started a literary magazine in Wuhan
Wuhan
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...
. He edited the periodical Literary Front and the literary page of the newspaper Libao in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and worked as a teacher. After 1943 Mao Dun did not produce any major works, but still wrote some articles and essays. In 1946 he visited the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
In 1927, he published his first novel, Disillusion (幻滅). His most famous and important novel, Midnight (子夜), was published in 1933. It is a naturalistic novel exploring the commercial world of Shanghai in detail. In addition, his fiction offered a sympathetic portrayal of working-class life and praise of revolution.
When the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
was established by the Communist Party of China in 1949, he became active on several committees and he worked as the Secretary and then the Minister of Culture for Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
until 1964. He started the monthly literary journal Chinese Literature, which became the most popular for western readers. He was dismissed from his position as minister in 1964 due to the ideological upheavals. Despite this fact, Mao Dun survived the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
and was afterwards rehabilitated. In the 1970s he became an editor of a children's magazine, and began working on his memoirs, which were serialized in the Party publication, the quarterly Xinwenxue Shiliao (新文學史料) (Historical Materials on New Literature), but he died on March 27, 1981 before he could finish it. His influence on Chinese literature
Chinese literature
Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...
continues to the present day because he used his savings to set up a fund called the Mao Dun Literature Scholarship to promote an atmosphere for writing fiction.
Mao Dun's achievements in literature were also seen at his 50th birthday, which was also the 25th anniversary of his literary life. More than five hundred guests came to celebrate with him. Russian and American friends also joined the celebration. Wong Roufei wrote an essay as congratulations on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party. Mao Dun's influence and achievements in the literary field were witnessed. On the other hand, he was twice elected as the chairman and then once elected as the vice-chairman of the China Literary Arts Representative Assembly. His status in the literary field has been highly recognized. Although he suffered great pain from illness in his old age, he still kept writing his memoirs, called The Road I Walked (我走過的路).
Besides his achievements, Mao Dun also had great influence on Chinese literature. The Mao Dun Literature Prize
Mao Dun Literature Prize
Mao Dun Literature Prize is a prize for novels sponsored by the Chinese Writers Association. Awarded every four years, it is one of most prestigious literature prizes in China. It was first awarded in 1982.-Background:...
(茅盾文學獎) was created due to Mao Dun's wish that outstanding novels should be encouraged and communist literature should be promoted. It is one of the most honorable literature awards in China. Many famous modern Chinese literary authors like Wei Wei (魏巍) and Zhou Ke-qin (周克芹) have received the prize.
List of works
Mao Dun has over 100 publications throughout his life, which includes short stories, novels, theories etc. Some of his most famous works include:Short stories
- Wild Rose (《野薔薇》 Ye Qiangwei (1929)
- The Smoke and Cloud Collection 《煙雲集》 Yanyunji (1937)
Novellas
- Disillusion 《幻滅》 Huanmie (1928)
- Three people walking San Ren Xing, 《三人行》 Sanrenxing (1931)
- The Shop Of the Lin Family 《林家铺子》 Linjia Puzi (1932)
- Spring Silkworms and Other Stories, 《春蚕》 Chuncan (1956)
- Autumn Harvest 《秋收》 QiuShou
Novels
- Hong, 《虹》 Hong [Rainbow] (1930)
- Ziye, 《子夜》 ZiYe [Midnight] (1933)
- 《獻給詩人節》 XianGeiShiRenJie [Giving to the poet festival] (1946)
Theories
- 《茅盾近作》 MaoDunJinZuo [The recent works of Mao Dun] (1980)
- 《茅盾論創作》 MaoDunLunChuangZuo [Mao Dun's Comment on Creativity] (1980)
Essays
- 《蘇聯見聞錄》 SuLianJianWenLu [Travelling Diary of USSR] (1948)
- 《雜談蘇聯》 JiTanSuLian [Talks on USSR] (1949)
Drama script
- Qingming Qianhou, 《清明前後》 QianMingQianHou [Front and rear Pure Brightness] (1945)
Translation
- 話劇《俄羅斯問題》(Modern drama "Russian Question") (1946)
- 中篇小說《團的兒子》(Novelette "Group's Sons") (1946)
Others
- 《茅盾全集》 Mao Dun Quanji [Works of Mao Dun] (vol. 1-15, 1984–1987)
- 《茅盾書簡》 Mao Dun Shujian [Introduction to the books of Mao Dun] (1st edition, collection of letters, 1984) later changed the name into《茅盾書信集》 Mao Dun Shuxinji (1988)
- Huanmie, Dongyao, Zhaiqiu (serialized in Xiaoshuo Yuebao, starting in 1927, published later as a trilogy under the title Shih)
- LuLuLu may refer to any one of the several Chinese surnames that have the same phone. The most common ones with this romanization are 陆 , 鲁 , 卢 and 路 ....
, 1932 - Chunchan, 1932-33 - Spring Silkworms and Other Stories
- Tzu-Yeh, 1933
- Shih, 1933 - The Cancer
- Zhongguo Di Yir, 1936
- Duojiao Quanxi, 1937
- Diyi Jieduande Gushi, 1937
- Fushi, 1941 腐蝕 "Putrefaction", about the New Fourth Army IncidentNew Fourth Army IncidentThe New Fourth Army Incident , also known as the Wannan Incident , occurred in China in January 1941 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which the Chinese Civil War was in theory suspended, uniting the Communists and Nationalists against the Japanese...
- Shuangye Hongsi Eryuehua, 1942
- Jiehou Shiyi, 1942
Further reading on Mao Dun
- Chen, Yu-shih. Realism and Allegory in the Early Fiction of Mao Dun. (1986)
- Gálik, Marián. Mao Tun and Modern Chinese Literary Criticism. (1969)
- Gálik, Marián. The Genesis of Modern Chinese Literature Criticism. (1980)
- Hsia, C.T. A History of Modern Chinese Fiction. (1961)
- Li Pin. (李頻) Bianji jia Mao Dun pingzhuan (編輯家茅盾評傳) Kaifeng (開封): Henan University press (河南大學出版社), 1995. Available in HKU FPS library.
- Shao Bozhou, et al. ed. Mao Dun de wenxue daolu. (1959)
- Wang, David Der-wei. Fictional Realism in the Twentieth-Century China. (1992)
- Chinese Writers on Writing featuring Mao Dun. Ed. Arthur SzeArthur SzeArthur Sze is a second-generation Chinese American poet.-Background:Sze was educated at the University of California, Berkeley, and is the author of eight books of poetry...
. (Trinity University Press, 2010).