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Literature of the People's Republic of China

by Kai-yu HsuTing Wang

Until now little of China's massive literary output of the last thirty years has been available to American readers. Literature of the People's Republic of Chinapresents a generous sampling in translation of the literature written in the PRC from 1949 to the present. Included here are more than 200 selections: poems, stories, essays, a hsiang-sheng (comic dialogue), and excerpts from novels, plays, movie scripts, and an opera. The collection opens with an excerpt from Mao Tse-tung's 1942 Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art, which has served as a Chinese Communist literary manifesto. The other selections treat five major themes: the Communist revolution up to 1949, the land reform experience, the Chinese participation in the Korean War, and the socialist reconstruction of the country. Kai-yu Hsu's informative general introduction, his introductions to each section, and explanatory head notes by the translators help place the literature in the context of political campaigns and conflicting ideologies. Literature of the People's Republic of China not only offers a fascinating glimpse into Chinese life but also demonstrates how creative writers have differed in their ideas of how best to serve the revolution.

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Table of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title Page
  • Copyright
  • To The Translators
  • Contents
  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • Chronology
  • PART ONE: From Yenan to Peking (1942-1955)
    • MAO TSE-TUNG
      • from “Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art”
    • MAO TUN
      • “We Must Still Prepare for a Long and Determined Struggle”
    • TING LING
      • from The Sun Shines over the Sangkan River
    • HU FENG
      • “Realism Today”
    • YANG SHUO
      • from A Thousand Miles of Lovely Land
    • LI CHUN
      • “Can’t Take That Road”
    • AI WU
      • “Return by Night”
    • CHÜN CH’ING
      • from “Dawn on the River”
    • LIU PAI-YÜ
      • “On the Dusty Road”
    • FEI LI-WEN
      • “One Year”
    • WANG YÜAN-CHIEN
      • “Party Membership Dues”
    • HO CH’IU
      • Before the New Bureau Director Came
    • TS’UI PA-WA
      • “A Wine Pot”
    • CHANG YUNG-MEI
      • “Early Spring”
    • HSÜ CH’IH
      • “South of the River”
      • “Spring Thunder”
    • LI CHI
      • “Short Song on Autumn Harvest”
    • LIANG SHANG-CH’ÜAN
      • “The Great Wall, Within and Beyond”
    • T’IEN CHIEN
      • from The Carter’s Story
    • SHIH FANG-YÜ
      • from “The Mightiest Voice of Peace”
  • PART TWO: The Hundred Flowers Movement and the Anti-Rightist Campaign (1956-1958)
    • HSIAO CHÜN
      • from Coal Mines in May
    • CH’IN CHAO-YANG
      • “Election”
    • LIU PIN-YEN
      • from “At the Bridge Site”
    • WANG MENG
      • from “The Young Man Who Has Just Arrived at the Organization Department”
    • CHOU LI-PO
      • from Great Changes in a Mountain Village
    • JU CHIH-CHÜAN
      • “The Lilies on a Comforter”
    • CHOU ERH-FU
      • from Morning in Shanghai
    • FANG CHI
      • “The Visitor”
    • LIANG PIN
      • from Keep the Red Flags Flying
    • TU P’ENG-CH’ENG
      • “The Natives of Yenan”
    • YANG MO
      • from The Song of Youth
    • K’ANG CHO
      • from Dripping Water Wears Away the Rock
    • AI CH’ING
      • “The Atlantic”
    • FENG CHIH
      • “Ascending the Wildgoose Tower”
    • HO CHING-CHIH
      • “The Rock in Mid-Torrent”
      • “Return to Yenan”
      • “Burial”
    • LI CHI
      • from May Festival
    • LI YING
      • “The Clouds Race on the Sea’s Face”
      • “After a Gun Duel at Quemoy”
    • MAO TSE-TUNG
      • “Changsha”
      • “Tapoti”
      • “Loushan Pass”
      • “Peitaiho”
      • “Reply to Madame Li Shu-yi”
      • “Swimming”
      • “Snow”
    • PIEN CHIH-LIN
      • “A Gift for the Reservoir Project”
      • “Dialogue of the Earth Movers”
      • “Embracing the Flood”
      • “Goggles and Telescopes”
      • “View from the Ming Tombs”
    • TSANG K’O-CHIA
      • “Old Man Fu Kuang-heng”
    • TSOU TI-FAN
      • “A Village Actor”
  • PART THREE: The Great Leap Forward and Anti-Revisionism (1959–1961)
    • YÜEH YEH
      • from Together through Thick and Thin
    • SUN CH’IEN
      • “The Story of a Scar”
    • CHOU YANG
      • “The Path of Socialist Literature and Art in China”
    • LIU CH’ING
      • from The Builders
    • CHAO HSÜN
      • from Homecoming
    • WANG WEN-SHIH
      • “The New Production Brigade Leader”
    • CHAO SHU-LI
      • “The Unglovable Hands”
    • T’ANG K’O-HSIN
      • “The First Class”
    • SHA TING
      • “Try and Catch Me”
    • CHANG YUNG-MEI
      • “Under the Banyan Tree”
    • CHAO P’U-CH’U
      • “To the Tune ‘Partridge Sky’ “
    • CHEN YI
      • “Three Gorges of the Yangtze River”
      • “Blue Pines”
      • “Sensitive Plant”
      • “To My Children”
    • HO CH’I-FANG
      • “The Song”
      • “For Yang Chi-fu”
      • “For Fan Hai-liang”
      • “Night Passage through Wanhsien”
      • “The First Morning in Vietnam”
      • “Three Young Women from South Vietnam”
    • HO CHING-CHIH
      • “Song of the Landscape of Kweilin”
    • HSIAO SAN
      • “I Sing for My Fatherland, Ten Years Old”
    • HSIEH CH’I-KUEI
      • “More”
    • KUO HSIAO-CH’UAN
      • “Gazing at the Starry Sky”
    • LI CHI
      • “Soul Lamp”
    • LI YING
      • “Red Willow, Sand Jujube, and White Caltrop”
      • “Sunrise over the Gobi”
      • “Dawn at Tun-huang”
    • LIANG SHANG-CH’ÜAN
      • “Floating the Raft”
      • “A River of Colors”
    • SHA PAI
      • “People, Houses, South of the River”
    • WEN CHIEH
      • “To Water Buffalo”
    • YEN CHEN
      • “Night Song”
      • “Orchard”
      • “A Song of Spring South of the River”
      • “The Frog’s Croak”
      • “April Night”
      • “The Ink Maker”
  • PART FOUR: The Socialist Education of the People (1962–1964)
    • MA FENG
      • “I Knew Three Years Ago”
    • OU-YANG SHAN
      • from Three-Family Lane
    • LIU CHEN
      • “The Long Flowing Stream”
    • LI YING-JU
      • from Wildfire and Wind Vie in an Old City
    • HU WAN-CH’UN
      • “Twilight Years”
    • CH’EN YÜN, CHANG LI-HUI, HSU CHING-HSIEN
      • from The Young Generation
    • SHAO CH’ÜAN-LIN and the “Middle Character” Controversy
    • CHANG CHIH-MIN
      • “The Contest Platform”
    • CHANG YUNG-MEI
      • “The Bamboo Girl”
    • CHAO P’U-CH’U
      • “To the Tune ‘Butterfly in Love with Flowers’ ”
      • “To the Tune ‘West River Moon’”
    • CH’EN YI
      • “Gold Coast”
    • HO CH’I-FANG
      • “Revisiting Nankai”
      • “A Night in Chang Village”
    • HO CHING-CHIH
      • “Our Great Motherland”
    • HSIAO SAN
      • “Though I’m Old and Disabled”
    • JAO MENG-K’AN
      • “First Snow of the Year”
      • “July First”
    • JUAN CHANG-CHING
      • “In Praise of the New Yellow River”
      • “Traveling in South Kiangsi”
      • from White Cloud Obo Symphony
    • KO PI-CHOU
      • “Mountain Eagle Gliding over Clouds”
      • “July Morning Breeze”
    • KUO HSIAO-CH’UAN
      • “Carved on North Wasteland”
      • “Drinking Song”
    • KUO MO-JO
      • “Visit to Vietnam”
    • LI YING
      • “The Memory of a City”
      • “Passing a River of Pearls at Night”
    • LIANG SHANG-CH’ÜAN
      • “Flower Bridge”
      • “Black Water and Reeds”
    • LIU CHENG
      • “The Tiger Posts a Decree”
      • “The ‘Wind’ Clique”
    • T’AI TEH-CH’IEN
      • “In the Ta-pieh Mountains”
    • T’ANG TA-T’UNG
      • “Boatman’s Song on the Chia-ling River”
      • “June Flood Pours toward Chungking”
      • “New Song of Kuei Men”
    • T’IEN CHIEN
      • “Big Iron Man”
    • TSANG K’O-CHIA
      • “Sun Island”
      • “The Well”
      • “A Train Passing through Shanhaikwan”
      • “Fearless”
      • “An Old Woman”
      • “The Fight Will Never Be Done”
    • YEN YI
      • “Battleground Revisited”
    • Poets of the Early 1960s
    • CHANG WAN-SHU
      • “The Pines of Huang Shan”
      • “Sunrise”
    • CHENG CH’ENG-YI
      • “Song of a Red Factory—An Ordinary Woman Worker”
    • CHI P’ENG
      • “Tonight I Stand Guard”
    • CHIANG JIH
      • “Sons and Daughters of Szechwan Rivers”
    • KO FEI
      • “Ascend White Cloud Obo”
    • KUNG HSI
      • “Home of the Radar Soldier”
    • LI CHIA-HSÜN
      • “Backpacks”
    • LU CH’I
      • “Willow Village Revisited”
    • NING YÜ
      • “Ship Building”
    • SHIH WEN-HSIUNG
      • “A Chemical Fertilizer Worker’s Lyrics”
    • SHIH YING
      • “The Mountain Girl Likes to Talk”
    • WANG SHIH-HSIANG
      • “Target Practice in the Rain”
      • Ethnic Minority Poets
    • LUTPULLA MATALLEP
      • Untitled
      • “I Shall Never”
    • K’E-LI-MU HUO-CHIA
      • “To My Party and My Country”
    • WANG CH’ENG-TUNG
      • “The Character of the Lhasa River”
      • “On Earth and in Heaven”
    • RABCHAI TSAZANG
      • “Road”
      • “Seashell”
      • “An Armed Race”
    • CHANG CH’ANG
      • “Thunder Crosses the Wilderness in Long Strides”
      • “Lost Laughter”
    • Folk Songs
    • CHIANG P’ING, HUANG SHOU-CH’ANG
      • “Many, Many Are My Songs”
    • TSENG CHI-NENG
      • “Rice Planting”
      • “Carting Fertilizer”
    • LIU HSÜEH-CHUNG
      • “Night Plowing”
    • KU LIU
      • “Hope You Take Care to Stop the Flow”
    • CHIA CH’I-FENG
      • “Overnight Stop, under Bridge, I Dream of Hurrying Along”
  • PART FIVE: The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1964-1970)
    • LAO SHE
      • Act I of Teahouse
    • TENG T’O
      • “Study More, Criticize Less”
      • “Singing of Lake T’ai”
    • T’IEN HAN
      • from Kuan Han-ch’ing
    • HSIA YEN
      • from The Lin Family Store
    • REVOLUTIONARY PEKING OPERA
      • from The Red Lantern
    • YANG HAN-SHENG
      • from The Northland and South of the River
    • LU YANG-LIEH
      • “Star”
    • WANG CHIA-PIN
      • “The Whale Trough”
    • HO CHING-CHIH
      • “Answer the World of Today”
    • MAO TSE-TUNG
      • “Return to Well Ridge Mountains”
      • “Dialogue of the Birds”
      • Proletarian Poets of the Early 1970s
    • CH’IU YEN
      • “My Sword, Eversharp”
    • SHEN JEN-K’ANG
      • “Spring Rain”
    • WEI CHIH
      • “Greeting the New Year before the Furnace”
  • PART SIX: The Aftermath: The Fall of the Gang of Four—Returns and Reversals (1971–)
    • WEI WEI
      • “In a Snowstorm”
    • HAO JAN
      • “The Wheels Are Flying”
    • MA CHI and T’ANG CHIEH-CHUNG COMIC DIALOGUES
      • “White Bone Demon”
    • YANG HSING-WANG
      • “Carry On”
    • YAO HSÜEH-YIN
      • from Li Tzu-ch’eng
    • MALCHINHU
      • “On the Kolchin Grasslands”
    • THE DISSENTING VOICE
    • AI CH’ING
      • “The Red Flag”
    • CHEN YANG
      • “To a Chingkang Rock”
    • CHEN KUAN-HSÜAN
      • “Boatman in Szechwan Rivers”
    • FENG CHING-YÜAN
      • “Cable Song”
      • “The Age Sings Out”
      • “The Fire’s Roar”
      • “Hey, Let the Steel Flow”
    • HO CH’I-FANG
      • “Reminiscence”
    • HSÜ YÜ and HUO HUA
      • “Battle in a Rainy Night”
    • KUO HSIAO-CH’UAN
      • “A Poem in the Old Style”
    • KUO MO-JO
      • “I Sing of the Third Plenum of the Central Committee of the Tenth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party”
    • LI YING
      • “Lookout Post on Mountaintop”
      • “Sound of the Flute”
      • “In a Storm”
      • “Our Army Cook”
      • “The Lamp”
      • “Spring Song”
    • PA SHAN
      • “Alpining”
    • PING HSIN
      • “Because We Are Still Young”
    • SHEN YUNG-CH’ANG
      • “Homespun Correspondent”
  • Glossary
  • Translators and Contributors
  • Chinese References
  • Author Index
  • Title Index, Including Chinese Sources

Metadata

  • isbn
    978-0-253-05126-4
  • publisher
    Indiana University Press
  • publisher place
    Bloomington, Indiana USA
  • restrictions
    CC-BY-NC-ND
  • rights
    Copyright © Trustees of Indiana University
  • rights holder
    Indiana University Press
  • rights territory
    World
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