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Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai's Autobiographical Writings: The Making and Destruction of a “Tender-hearted” Communist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

T. A. HSIA
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On February 23, 1965, colleagues and students in Berkeley mourned the death of Tsi-an (T.A.) Hsia in his forty-eighth year. A profound sense of loss has since been shared and expressed in many other parts of the world by those who knew him and his work. Critic and literary editor for over a cataclysmic decade in China, as distinguished in creative writing as in historical research, he was first published in the West in the Partisan Review in 1955. “The Jesuit's Tale” (PR, XXII, 4)is an agonising story of a religious devotee who finally succumbs not only to the mental torture perfected by his Peking inquisitors, but ultimately to the torments of a modern dedicated individual caught in the clash of two cultures. Tsi-an's talent was to probe deeply into the human psyche, individual and collective, and to reveal dimensions of symbolism in the social, political and cultural confrontations in today's contradictory world. His fine sensibility for words and his ability to analyse propaganda jargon, folk-lore and traditional myths in cogent critiques of the Chinese socialist dream as wèll as reality, were evidenced in his Metaphor, Myth, Ritual and the People's Commune, and other brilliant monographs which he produced with us in Berkeley in our Project called Current Chinese Language: Studies in Communist Terminology.

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Recent Developments
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The China Quarterly , Volume 25 , January 1966 , pp. 176 - 212
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1966

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References

1 “The remains of Comrade Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai, who was executed by the KMT reactionaries twenty years ago in Changting, Fukien, were interred in the Martyrs' Cemetery at Pa-pao-shan, Peking, on June 18.” NCNA, June 18, 1955. Jen-min Jih-pao (People's Daily), June 19, 1955.

2 “Comrade Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai, who was supposed to have committed mistakes along the line of conciliation, was a Party leader of prestige and did much useful work (mainly cultural) even after blows were dealt to him, and died a hero's death in June 1935 at the hands of the KMT executioners.” Tse-tung, Mao, “Resolutions on Some Questions in the History of Our Party,” Selected Works, Vol. IV (New York: International Publishers, 1956), p. 183Google Scholar. See also the note on p. 340, ibid. “…he was attacked by the ‘Left’ doctrinaire-sectarians and excluded from the Party's central leading body.”

3 “Comrade Ch'iu-pai was very respectful towards Comrade Mao Tse-tung. … [After only a part of Mao's lengthy] ‘Report of an Investigation into the Peasant Movement in Hunan’ …was published in the Hsiang Tao (Guide Weekly), its editor, P'eng Shu-chih, was not willing to publish the remainder … Ch'ü, then in Wu-han, not only published the full text as a book but also wrote a preface to it.” San, HsiaoChi-nien (Personalities and Reminiscences) Jen-wu yü (Peking: San Lien Bookstore, 1952), p. 221Google Scholar.

Ch'ü also taught at the Training Centre for the Agrarian Movement, which was under the direction of Mao in Canton. See Chi-tse, Wen “Chü Ch'iu-pai t'ung-shih chan-tou te i-sheng” (“Comrade Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai's Battling Life”) Hung ch'i p'iao p'iao (Red Flags are Flying) (Peking: Chinese Youth Publications Association, 1957), Vol. 5, p. 93Google Scholar.

In Kiangsi, he was said to be on cordial terms with Mao, though he did not get along well with other Communist leaders. See Hsueh-hua, , “Introduction to the Superfluous Words,” I-ching Fortnightly, Vol. II, No. 25, 03 5, 1937Google Scholar.

4 See the five essays on Literary Revolution and Language Problems, Chü Chiu-pai Wen-chi (Collected Works of Ch'ü Ch'iu-pat) (Peking: Jen-min Wen-hsueh Ch'u-pan She, 1953), Vol. 2, p. 593–704Google Scholar.

5 See his two letters on translation to Hsun, Lu, Collected Works, Vol. 2, pp. 917–942Google Scholar.

6 Liang's, essay on “Lun Lu Hsun hsien-sheng te ying-i” (“Mr. Lu Hsün's ‘Hard Translation’”) appeared in the Hsin Yueh (Crescent Moon), Vol. 2, Nos. 6 and 7 (a combined issue)Google Scholar. rebuttali, Lu Hsün's, “Lun ying-i yü wen-hsueh te chieh-chi hsing” (“Hard Translation and the Class-nature of Literature”), is found in Lu Hsun Ch'uan Chi (Complete Works of Lu Hsun) (Peking: Jen-min Wen-hsueh Ch'u-pan She, 1957), Vol. 4, p. 155Google Scholar.

7 In 1932 Ch'ü wrote an essay on the “Revolutionary Romantic” (“Ke-ming te langt'ou ti-k'e”), which looks disapprovingly at the “romantic elements” contained in a leftist novel Ti Ch'uan (Spring from the Earth), by Han, Hua. This essay is found in an earlier collection, Luan Tan (Vulgar Music) (Shanghai: 1949)Google Scholar, but is excluded from the authorised Collected Works. One reason is perhaps that “revolutionary romanticism” is an essential part of the literary policy of the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Tse-tung. Mo-jo, Kuo believes that one of Mao's poems, Tieh li hua, is a “typical combination of revolutionary realism with revolutionary romanticism.” Wen I Pao, No. 7, 04 11, 1958Google Scholar.

8 Collected Works of Chü Ch'iu-pai, op. cit.

9 Jen-min Jih-pao (People's Daily), June 19, 1955.

10 No other source mentions that Ch'ü's father was an opium smoker, but he himself admitted to this in an interview held in prison in 1935. “Chü Ch'iu-pai fang-wen chi” (“An Interview with Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai”) by K'e-ch'ang, Li, Kuo-wen Chou-paa (Kuowen Weekly), Vol. 12, No. 26, 07 8, 1935Google Scholar.

11 I do not know exactly how many children she had. But Ch'ü noted at the time when he was leaving for Russia, that he and two younger brothers were in Peking, and two other younger brothers and one younger sister were in Hang-chow. They had to depend on the relatives only after their mother's death. A Journey to the Land of Hunger, p. 8, Collected Works, Vol. 1.

12 Tsu-hsi, Tsao, op. cit., p. 3Google Scholar.

13 Chi-tse, Wen, op. cit., p. 80Google Scholar.

14 The uncle could be the “fourth paternal uncle” on whom Ch'iu-pai's brothers were to depend. He was probably also the uncle who had served as magistrate of certain districts in Chekiang (mentioned in Interview, note 10).

15 The date, the second day of the first moon, is agreed upon by Chi-tse, Wen, op. cit., p. 81Google Scholar; Tsu-hsi, Tsao, Chü Chiu-pai te wen-hsueh huo-tung (Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai's Literary Activities) (Shanghai: Hsin Wen-i Ch'u-pan She, 1958), p. 5Google Scholar, and Ai-ming, Shang-kuan, Chü Chiu-pai wen-hsueh (Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai and Literature) (Nanking: Kiangsu Wen-i Ch'u-pan She, 1959)Google Scholar. Shang-kuan Ai-ming said that the day was February 19, 1915, in the solar calendar. But I checked on the calendar, and found it to be February 15. Yang Chih-hua, Ch'ü's widow, does not give a definite date. She only refers to February 1915. “I Ch'iu-pai” (“ In Memoriam, Ch'iu-po”), Red Flags Are Flying, Vol. 8, p. 26, 1958Google Scholar. The other biographers stress poverty as the cause of the suicide. Yang Chih-hua brings in the interesting factor of the relatives’ accusations.

16 Chi-tse, Wen, op. dt., p. 81Google Scholar.

17 Journey to the Land of Hunger, Collected works, Vol. 1, pp. 13–14.

18 Journey, Collected Works, Vol. 1, p. 21.

19 Ibid. p. 22.

20 In 1920, Li Ta-chao started the organisation of Socialist Studies Small Groups (Shehui-chu-i Yen-chiu Hsiaotsu) at several schools in Peking as well as the Communist Small Group (Kung-ch'an-chu-i hsiao-tsu). The latter was more closely related to the Third International. K'e-feng, Wang, Wu-ssu yun-tung yü chung-kuo kung-ch'an tang chitan-sheng (The May Fourth Movement and the Birth of the Communist Party) (Nanking: Kiangsu Jen-min Ch'u-pan She), pp. 34–35Google Scholar. According to Wen Chi-tse, Ch'ü, joined the Socialist Group, op. cit., p. 85Google Scholar.

21 According to Cheng-Chen-to, Shun-po was a k'e-yüan of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But Ch'ü himself told the interviewer in prison that Shun-po was an employee of the Ministry of War; cf. note 10. “Chi Ch'ü Chiu-pai tung-shih tsao-nien te erh-san shih” (“A Few Anecdotes in Comrade Ch'ü Ch'iu-po's Early Life”), Hsin Kuan-cha (New Observer), No. 12, 0606 16, 1955Google Scholar.

22 Journey, Collected Works, pp. 22–24.

23 She-hui fu-wu hui in the original. But the name should be more correctly Society Promotion Society, a social service branch of the YMCA, Peking. Wu-ssu Shih-ch'i Ch'i-kan Chie-shao (An Introduction to the Periodicals in the May Fourth Era) (Peking: Jen-min Ch'u-pan She, 1958), Vol. 1, p. 320Google Scholar.

24 As to his activities during the May Fourth Movement, he was arrested together with 800 others and imprisoned for three days, Chi-tse, Wen, op. cit., p. 84Google Scholar. On the very day of the demonstration, he came home spitting blood, San, Hsiao, op. cit., p. 218Google Scholar.

25 About the details of the New Society, see Introduction to Periodicals, op. cit., p. 320.

26 “No one at that time understood the meaning of materialistic view of history.” This statement of Ch'ü's is definitely applicable to his small group. Whether he held the same view of people like Li Ta-chao and Ch'en Tu-hsiu is doubtful. The quotation is from Journey, Collected Works, Vol. 1, p. 24.

27 The Young China Association was the predecessor of the rightist Young China Party (Chung-kuo Ch'ing-nien Tang), but its early members included such eminent Communists as Mao Tse-tung, Li Ta-chao, etc. The struggle inside the Association was one of the most interesting phases of Chinese ideological and political history in the early twenties. For a brief account see Introduction to Periodicals, op. cit., p. 235.

28 The first issue of Humanité was published on August 15, 1920. See ibid. p. 328.

29 Four of the founders of the Literary Research Society (Wen-hsueh Yen-chiu Hui) were originally associated with the Humanité: Cheng Chen-to, Ch'ü Shih-ying, Keng Chi-chih, and Hsu Ti-shan. The Society was founded in January 1921, when Ch'ü Ch'iu-po was in Russia. Both Journey to the Land of Hunger and History of the Heart were listed as publications of the Wen-hsueh Yen-chiu Hui Ts'ung Shu.

30 Li Ta-chao might be an influence behind the appointment. “The Peking Ch'en Pao was formerly known as the Ch'en Chun Pao (The Morning Bell), an organ of the Progressive Party, headed by the bourgeois reformers Liang Ch'i-ch'ao and T'ang Hua-lung. The same political group became later the Constitution Research Society (Hsien-fa Yen-chiu Hui) or, in its better known name, the Research Clique (Yen-chiu Hsi). At the inception of the Ch'en Chung Pao (August 15, 1916), its editor-in-chief was Li Ta-chao, only recently returned from Japan.…He was discharged from service, however, after only two months, because of differences in opinion.…In September 1918, eight newspapers in Peking were banned on account of their publication of the news about Japan's huge loan to Marshal Tuan Ch'i-jui. Among them were the two papers of the Research Clique: Ch'en Cung Pao and the Kuo Min Kung Pao. In December of the same year, the Ch'en Chung Pao resumed publication under the name of the Ch'en Pao. In February 1919, its page 7 (or supplementary page) went through a reorganisation. Li Ta-chao, who had acquired some rudimentary knowledge about Communism, was brought back to work on it. From then on the paper made it clear that it was favouring the new cultural movement.” Introduction to Periodicals, op. cit., p. 95.

31 The amount paid by the Ch'en Pao was revealed in his interview with Li, Li K'ech'ang, op. cit. The amount paid by the school in Wusih is given in Ai-ming, Shang-kuan, op. cit., p. 3Google Scholar.

32 Kuan T'ung: O Hsiang Chi can be found in many anthologies. My source is Han Fang Lou Ku Chin Wen Ch'ao, Vol. 86.

33 Journey, Collected Works, p. 27.

34 Introduction, ibid. p. 5.

35 Hei T'ien Hsiang connotes “sleep.” In the Introduction, Ibid. pp. 3–5, he characterises the lethargic, comfort-loving Chinese as “sleepers.”

36 I don't know whether the collection has even been published.

37 Introduction, Journey, op. clt., p. 15.

38 Ibid. p. 16.

39 “His original name was Chang T'ai-lai, also Ch'un-mu. He changed it to Chang T'ai-lei after he joined the revolution.” I-chih, Wang (Chang's widow): “In Memoriam, T'ai-Iei.” Red Flags are Flying, Vol. V, p. 13Google Scholar. Ch'ü gave his name as Chang T'ai-lai, ibid. p. 28.

Chang's activities in 1920 are summarised in Men and Politics in Modern China, Fifty Preliminary Biographies, edited by Boorman, Howard L. (New York: Columbia University, 1960)Google Scholar: “By 1920 he had become active in radical politics in Shanghai. In August of that year when Ch'en Tu-hsiu, with the help of Voitinsky, organised the Chinese Socialist Youth Corps, Chang became one of its first members.…He was in Tientsin in October 1920 when Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai, then not yet committed to Communism, passed through there on his way to Russia. Chang was then probably assisting Li Ta-chao in organising in north China a Socialist Youth Corps modelled after the one which had been set up earlier in Shanghai” (p. 20). About Chan's role in introducing Ch'ü into the Communist Party. “February 1922. Ch'iupai joined the Communist Party through the recommendation of Comrade Chang Tai-Lai.” Chih-hua, Yang, op. cit., p. 27Google Scholar. Ch'ü himself added Chang Kuo-t'ao in his interview with Li. “The next year (1921), Chang Kuo-t'ao, Chang T'ai-lei, etc., came to Russia. They introduced me into the Communist Party.”

40 Journey, Collected Works, Vol. 1, pp. 28–30.

41 Ibid. p. 31.

42 Ibid. p. 33.

43 Ibid. p. 11.

44 Ibid. p. 44.

45 Ibid. pp. 90–91.

46 History of the Heart, Collected Works, Vol. 1, p. 173.

47 More information, he said, was provided in a third book, On Russian Revolution, which I have not had a chance to read. But since Chü described the book as “a social science treatise,” containing “observations on history and interpretations of institutions” it could not have been much help to our understanding of his personal life. “Comrade Ch'iu-po wrote another book of studies on Soviet socialism. It was sold to a certain publisher. But under the pressure of the Northern Warlords and then the KMT Government, it never had a chance of getting published. The MS. was destroyed in a fire during the war in Shanghai in 1932.” A Chronological Catalogue of Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai's Writings and Translations (Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai chu I-hsi Nien Mu-lu), compiled by Ching-t'ang, Ting and Ts'ao, Wen (Shanghai: Jen-min Ch'u-pan She, 1959), p. 99Google Scholar.

The title Ch'ü used was O-lo-ssu Ko-ming Lun. Hsiao San said it was “A Revolutionary History of New Russia” (“Hsin O Ko-ming Shih”). The publisher identified was the Commercial Press, ibid. p. 98. See also note 3.

48 History of the Heart, op cit. p. 127.

49 Ibid. pp. 128–129.

50 Ibid. pp. 103 and 128.

51 Journey, op. cit. p. 84.

52 The Introduction to Periodicals, op. cit., has 14 titles of Ch'ü's correspondence on serious subjects published in the Ch'en Pao from June 1921 to November 1922. For the dates of these and other articles, see Ting and Wen, op. cit.

53 Hung-hsun, Wang, “Wei-ta te shih-yueh sheng-li” (“The Baptism of the Great October”), Red Flags are Flying, Vol. 4Google Scholar.

54 The Third Congress of the Comintern was held June 22 to July 12, 1921. Rauch, Georg von, A History of Soviet Russia (New York: Praeger, 1959)Google Scholar. Ch'ü wrote a brief report on it on July 6. He may have fallen ill afterwards.

55 History of the Heart, op. cit., pp. 129–130.

56 Ibid. pp. 136–138.

57 Wang Hung-hsün mentions that the university was established in summer and class started in the autumn. By autumn he might mean September.

58 Tsao Tsing-hua, known for his translations from Russian, has an interesting article about his difficulties with the Russian language while attending the University of Toilers. “Tien-ti I Chiu-pai” (“Tidbits of My Reminiscences of Ch'iu-pai”), Wen I Pao, No. 11, 06 15, 1955Google Scholar.

Liu Shao-ch'i, in a rare reminiscent mood, recalls, in an address to the mass meeting for Soviet-Chinese Amity, held in Moscow on December 7, 1960, how he travelled from China to Russia in the spring of 1921, together with other members of Youth Corps, dozens in number. It took three months for the train to reach Moscow from Vladivostok. He joined the Communist Party in the winter of that year. (People's Daily, December 9, 1960.) He was probably one of the students.

59 When Ch'ü first arrived in Moscow, he received help from Kolokolov, official interpreter assigned by the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs. Ch'ü, said that Kolokolov did not translate well, but they became fast friends anyhow. Journey, op. cti., p. 88Google Scholar.

60 History of the Heart, op. cit., p. 161.

61 Ibid. p. 164.

62 Ibid. p. 166.

63 Ibid. p. 171.

64 Ibid.Huan-hsi (About Bracelet Creek), see Shang-kwan Ai-ming, op. cit.

65 History of the Heart, op. cit., pp. 175–178.

66 “After the first session of the Conference in Irkutsk [held in November 1921] its delegates travelled to Moscow and then to Petrograd, where they were joined by new delegates. Their deliberation continued from January 21 to January 27, as the First Congress of Toilers of the Far East.” Eudin, X. J., and North, R. C., Soviet Russia and the East, 1920–1927 (Palo Alto: Stanford Un. Press, 1957), pp. 145–146Google Scholar. Ch'ü apparently did not go to Irkutsk, though he attended the meetings held in Moscow and Petrograd.

Here I have to argue with Wen Chi-tse about Ch'ü's status at that time. Said Wen: “In early February 1922, Comrade Chang Tai-lei, a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party, came to Moscow. Through his introduction, Comrade Ch'ü joined the CCP. After that, he together with Chang Tai-lei and other comrades, was appointed by the Party to attend the Congress of the Peoples of the Far East, in the spring of 1922.” Wen, , op. cit., p. 90Google Scholar.

This statement is questionable on several points:

(a) Chang Tai-lei was very active in Russia throughout 1921. It was he who drafted the invitation to the Congress. He conferred with the Far Eastern Secretariat in Irkutsk, and debated with M. N. Roy in the Third Congress of the Comintern; Eudin, and North, , op. cit., pp. 139–147Google Scholar. Ch'ü must have seen him on the occasion of the Comintern Congress though he was silent on the subject in the History of the Heart. What did they talk about then? Did Chang try then to introduce Ch'ü into the Party?

(b) If Ch'ü joined the Party as late as February 1922, then it was after, and not before, he attended the Congress of the Peoples of the Far East, which, according to the Russian sources quoted by Eudin and North, was held in January.

(c) Again, if Ch'ü did not join the Party until February, then he attended the Congress as a “non-Party” delegate (even possibly as an interpreter.) He could not share the official duties with Chang Tai-lei who was already a member of the CCP. There were fourteen “non-Party” members in the Chinese delegation. Whiting, Allen S., Soviet Policies in China, 1917–1924 (New York: Columbia Un. Press, 1953), p. 299Google Scholar.

Hsiao San is likewise confused on these points: “In the spring [which month?] of 1922, the Congress of the Peoples of the Far East was convened in Moscow. Comrade Ch'iu-pai and others, representing revolutionary organisations in China, actively participated. At that time, Lenin showed love and respect towards Comrade Ch'iu-po.” Op. cit., p. 98.

Does the following remark made by Ch'ü on December 3, 1921, suggest that he was then no more a fellow-traveller but a member of the Communist Party? “Of course I am only a common foot-soldier, but I am enrolled with the pioneers of the world cultural movement which will not only open a new road for the world but also restore glory to ancient China.” History of the Heart, op. cit., p. 166.

67 Ibid. p. 178.

68 Ibid. p. 181.

69 Cf. Yang Chih-hua and Wen Chi-tse. Lu Ting-i, Minister of Propaganda, Chinese Communist Party, reported at Ch'ü's funeral in 1955 that Ch'ü joined the Party in 1922, but no month was given, People's Daily, June 19, 1955. Ch'ü's own account is vague. It only says that he joined the Party after his meeting with Chang Kuo-t'ao, Chang T'ai-lei, etc. It might be either 1921 or 1922.

Hsueh-hua, who published the Superfluous Words, offers another date, which is plausible. “In May 1921, Chang Ta'i-lei came to Moscow and recommended him to the Communist Party. In September, as Ch'ü was employed by the University of Toilers, he became a regular member of the Party.” I-chtng Fortnightly, Vol. II, No. 25, p. 19, 03 5, 1937Google Scholar.

70 History of the Heart, op. dt., pp. 182–183.

71 Ibid. pp. 194–195.

72 Ibid. p. 97.

73 Collected Works, Vol. 1, pp. 441–442. Concerning the thirteen essays, see ibid., p. 456, note.

74 Ibid. No. 27, April 5, 1937, p. 6.

75 Ibid. No. 25, p. 22.

76 Publisher unknown, p. 185. The book, “published in celebration of the Tenth Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party,” is available in the Far Eastern Library, University of Washington, Seattle.

77 Chih-hua, Yang, op. cit., p. 55Google Scholar.

78 A man called on her mother and displayed the envelope. Yang dared not appear to claim the letter. It might have been a trap set to arrest her. Ibid. p. 52.

79 My evidence is a letter to the editors of the l-ching, in which a reader expressed his gratitude for being able to gain access to an important document in modern history, of which he had only heard. “About Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai” (“Kuan-yu Ch'ü Chiu-pai”), by Lu-chen, Huang, I-ching, Vol. 2, No. 28, 04 20, 1937Google Scholar. Look, a magazine published in Hong Kong, reprinted the Superfluous Words in 1958 (November and December). Nothing is said, however, about the history of the text. Comparing the two, I presume that the Look version is only a reprint of the I-ching version, unless they are both reprints of an identical MS. The Superfluous Words is mentioned as a work by Ch'iu-pai, Ch'ü in Chung-kuo Wen-hua Chieh Jen-wu Ts'ing-chien (Who's Who in Chinese Cultural Circles) (Peking: 1940Google Scholar), edited by a Japanese. No data are given. Elegant, Robert S., in his China's Red Masters (New York: Twayne, 1951), pp. 54–56Google Scholar, quotes a few passages from the Superfluous Words without, however, giving due credit or accepting the rest of the “confession.”

80 “An Interview with Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai,” Kuo-wen Chou-pao, Vol. 12, No. 26, 07 8, 1935, p. 6Google Scholar.

81 Ibid. p. 5.

82 Tun, Mao, “Chi-nien Chiu-pai t'ung-shih, hsueh-hsi Chiu-pai t'ung-shih” (“ Commemorate Comrade Ch'iu-pai, Learn from Comrade Ch'iu-pai”) People's Daily, 06 18, 1955Google Scholar. Reprinted in Hsin Hua Yueh-kan (Hsin Hua Monthly), July 1955.

83 Chi-tse, Wen, op. at., p. 105Google Scholar.

84 Kuo-wen Chou-pao, op. cit., p. 3.

Li Ang has this to say about Ch'ü's incompetence as a Communist leader: “Ch'ü was really a mediocre plotter who, as the saying goes, was not gifted with the talent to command, nor could he win admiration for his virtue.” Hung-se Wu-t'ai (The Red Stage) (Chunking: Sheng-li Ch'u-pan Kung-ssu, 1941), p. 51Google Scholar. “Ch'ü was indeed a blockhead (fan-t'ung) or rice-vessel in its fullest sense. He could never carry out any plan as he wished.” Ibid. p. 133.

85 l-ching, op. cit., No. 27, p. 9.

86 ibid. No. 26, March 20, 1937, p. 16.

87 ibid. No. 27, p. 9.

88 Ibid. No. 26, p. 19.

89 According to the Ta Kung Pao, reprinted in part in l-ching, No. 28, p. 43. Ch'ü first heard the Internationale in 1920 when he was joining the local Russians in celebrating the October Revolution in Harbin, , Journey, op. cit., p. 52Google Scholar. Later he translated it into Chinese, but it was still the Russian version that he sang at the time of his death.

90 Reprinted in I-ching, op. cit.

Robert C. North, quoting another source, describes the scene differently from the Ta Tung Pao: “On that day [January 18, 1935] according to a story then current, he was brought from prison to the place of execution on a stretcher. There he drained a glass of whisky, asked for brush and paper, and wrote down this poem:

The colourful splurge of the setting sun etches the mountains of Fukien.

The rustle of the falling leaves and the sound of the running stream show the winter is near.

These are eternal.

Ten years I have passed in worldly undertakings, and now I am prepared to join heaven,

But I leave with desires unfilled.”

Moscow and the Chinese Communists (Palo Alto: Stanford Un. Press, 1953), p. 165Google Scholar.

According to the Ta Tung Pao, he was writing the poem when he was summoned to the execution ground and he walked “in a leisurely manner” to the place rather than being carried on a stretcher. And the date was June 18, 1935, not January 18.