Chinese Literature - Li-hua Ying 2010

LEFT-WING ASSOCIATION OF CHINESE WRITERS (ZHONGGUO ZUOYI ZUOJIA LIANMENG)
The Dictionary

LEFT-WING ASSOCIATION OF CHINESE WRITERS (ZHONGGUO ZUOYI ZUOJIA LIANMENG). Established in 1930 in Shanghai, the progressive association absorbed members from other organizations, such as the Creation Society. Founding members included Lu Xun, Mao Dun, Xia Yan, Yu Dafu, Feng Naichao, Feng Xuefeng, Tian Han, Jiang Guangci, Yang Hansheng, Hong Lingfei, and others. Its mission was to promote a “revolutionary literature” that opposed traditional society and reactionary forces and to support progressive young writers.

It attracted writers who were fully committed to the idea of literature serving the revolutionary cause. In the initial stage of the movement, the writers were primarily focused on ideology and less concerned about artistry, a practice most evident in the works by Jiang Guangci, Rou Shi, and Hu Yepin. Emerging after these writers were more sophisticated practitioners such as Mao Dun, Ding Ling, Zhang Tianyi, Sha Ting, and Wu Zuxiang, who leaned more toward critical realism and were more nuanced in their approach to the art of storytelling.

The organization effectively used its many publications, Tuohuangzhe (The Pioneer), Mengya yuekan (Sprouts Monthly), Qianshao (The Front Line), Beidou (The Dipper), and Xiaoshuo yuebao (Fiction Monthly), to attack literary groups that it considered “bourgeois” and “reactionary,” such as the Crescent Society. It was undisputedly the most influential literary organization during the 1930s. Although it was disbanded in 1936 in order to form the united front against the Japanese, its impact continued to be felt in the People’s Republic of China all the way through the 1970s. See also CHEN BAICHEN; DUANMU HONGLING; HONG SHEN; OUYANG SHAN; OUYANG YUQIAN; SPOKEN DRAMA; WANG LUYAN; XIAO JUN; YE LINGFENG; YU LING; ZHOU ERFU; ZHOU LIBO.