Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2009
In terms of his impact on the young intelligentsia of China, particularly in the 1930s, and of the emotional symbolism as patriot and reformer with which his name is charged, Lu Hsün (1881–1936) was the most powerful figure in modern Chinese letters. For the last seven years of his life he was openly identified with Communist-led left-wing cultural movements in China. Today he is honoured by the Chinese Communist Party as the great cultural hero of the Chinese Revolution. His homes have become museums, jiis tomb a shrine. He is presented as a Communist in everything but name.
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5 Ibid. 3:438.
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10 Lu Hsün recommended Jou Shih as editor of Yu Ssu in late 1928, a move which would have been illogical, given the background and general orientation of the magazine, had he known Jou was a Communist. Lu Hsün himself says that it was not until after the formation of the League of Left Wing Writers that he knew Pai Mang was also the poet Yin Fu, indicating that it was highly unlikely he knew of his Communist affiliation.
11 The League, affiliated with the International Union of Revolutionary Writers in Moscow and the most important of several front associations in cultural fields organised by the Communist Party at this time for the purpose of advancing its cause in the revolutionary struggle, rallied the support of most major liberal authors in its first two or three years. Branches were established in various parts of China and in Tokyo, a publication programme was undertaken, secret theoretical discussions on Marxism were held and a secret workers' and peasants' correspondence movement organised. However, constant and often brutal pressure against it drove it completely underground thereafter and it was finally dissolved early in 1936 in response to the less partisan united front line.
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24 Hsün, Lu, C.W. 4:240.Google Scholar
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27 Ibid. 4:197–198.
28 Ibid. 5:142–144.
29 Ibid. 6:119.
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