LOOK, A LOT OF HOLY RELICS FROM THE FIRE IN THE CHINESE LITERARY CIRCLES-LAMENTS FOR THE TRAGICAL FATE OF SOME GREATEST CHINESE WRITERS(Part 2)

Author: Li Chengpeng on Mar 6, 2024

Message from the translator:

The chinese article was oriinginally published on Yibao.com on March 2023 by the prominent Chinese writer Li Chengpeng(https://yibaochina.com/?p=252623 ). This is part two of a essay about the author's laments for the tragical fate of some great Chinese writers including Zhao Shuli and Sun Li under the rule of CCP regime in China.

Part 2 Death of Zhao Shuli and Sun Li

When I was young, I thought that if Shen Congwen had written more works praising the proletarian revolution, his fate might have been different... until I learned about the death of Zhao Shuli(Note 1), the founder of the " Shanyaodan rural realists (山藥蛋派) "(Note 2 ,one of the contemporary Chinese literary schools).

Unlike Shen Congwen, Zhao Shuli was very popular and favored (by the CCP dictators) and was highly praised by Guo Moruo. Zhou Yang, the then Minister of Culture of the Communist Party of China, publicly praised him at the China National Literary Creation Conference, saying, "No one in the country can surpass Zhao Shuli in the creation of rural-themed literary works. He is not only a good hand in writing the literature works, but also a one who can be called as a saint in that field."

But Zhao Shuli still could not escape the fate of being physically tortured and shamed in the name called “jet-style physically-criticised-by-the-people": during the Cultural Revolution, his hands were tied high behind his back, and then he was kicked out by the Red Guards ,which led to his "flying" in the air for a short distance, and finally fell hard on the hard ground-it caused two of his ribs broken and ?pierced into his lung lobes, causing endless infections in the following years.

In that era, while being physically tortured to the point of being unrecognizable uring the daytime, he had to write self-criticisms all night to report to the party organization to express his loyalty to the party. During writing of the self-criticisms, he leaned against the stove to keep warm when he couldn't stand the cold and used his arms to prop up against the small table and wrote word by word when he was really sleepy- at that time, he firmly believed that the party organization would come to save him.

But one day, Comrade Jiang Qing(Note 3) said, "This person is extremely bad." So, in a midnight abruptly he was taken away with eyes covered with a black cloth, and started his years-long life of being physically and publicly-tortured-and-shamed in the so-called name of “criticized and educated by people” in various places in Shanxi... For four whole years since then, he lived like a monkey all day long, being watched, humiliated and beaten at any time. One day, remembering that he had written a literature work called " Banquet for passing through the three fortress", the Red Guards said, "Now you can experience in person how to pass the three fortress " - they ordered him to stand on a high platform made of three tables and confess his mistakes and “crimes “loudly... Unexpectedly, as soon as he stood on it, the Red Guards kicked over the table, causing him to fall down and break his hip.

That day, when his daughter went to see him, he was respectfully copying a poem by Mao Zedong called “Busuanzi. Plum chanting “with one hand while covering his broken ribs with the other hand. He said, "I will hand this over to the party leadership when I have the chance, so that the party will understand my loyalty ..."

Four days later, Zhao Shuli passed out during the Red Guards’ criticism and denunciation. When he woke up, his family found that he had his eyes wide open, making strange noises in his throat, and refused to eat. No matter how much efforts they made in persuading him, he would not eat. Then he died... Whether it was Shen Congwen, who was criticized for his works with capitalist sentiments, or Zhao Shuli, who was once very popular for praising socialism, they believed until their death that the party organization would save them. They might not believe it in their hearts, but they had to pretend to believe it on the surface: just like a person who is in a sadomasochistic relationship, although they have long been abandoned by the person they claim to love, they still have to loudly praise their sincere love to people! The tragically fate of such writers and literati under the rule of the Communist Party of China, is just like a big fire in the Chinese literary world. As the audience, the Chinese people are all wondering whether these writers who were sacrificed as sacrifices after the fire can produce a few more holy relics that can sing praises to the party and socialism.

As a sacrifice in the fire of Chinese literary world, Sun Li(Note 4), the founder of the "Lotus Pond School of Literature", was also killed nearly by suicide. As a capable person of Yan'an Lu Xun Academy of Arts and Literature and Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region Daily, the mouthpiece of the early political propaganda of the Chinese Communist regime, he was not only criticized and humiliated by the Red Guards, but also had his house searched and his properties confiscated six times during the Cultural Revolution. On this day, he was sent to be publicly criticized and educated in the streets by the Red Guards again. After returning home, he could not bear the huge humiliation he had just suffered, so he unscrewed the light bulb and put his hand into the light socket to commit suicide. Fortunately, the huge current knocked his whole hand out. His wife saw this and quickly grabbed him, saying, "We can't die. Everybody’s life is full of ups and downs .We have to live to see the capricious in rise and fall in the world." Sun Li survived by chance. By the way, if Sun Li was electrocuted to death, he would not have the opportunity to promote an unknown Chinese writer, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Yes, he is Mo Yan.( To be continued)

Notes:

1.Zhao Shuli (simplified Chinese: 赵树理; traditional Chinese: 趙樹理; pinyin: Zhào Shùlǐ(24 September 1906 – 23 September 1970), a novelist and a leading figure of modern Chinese literature, became known as a founder and leader of the Shanyaodan (White Potato) rural realists (山藥蛋派), one of the most influential literary movements and schools of literature in mid-20th century China. He died in 1970, following persecutions during the Cultural Revolution.(Data Source: Zhao Shuli - Wikipedia )

2.Shanyaodan rural realists (山藥蛋派), is a contemporary Chinese literary genre, also known as Shanxi School (of literature), Zhao Shuli School(of literature), or Spark School (of literature). It is? a school of literature and a literary genre created by Shanxi writers represented by Zhao Shuli since the 1940s, with a feature of taking use of rural life as their description content, colloquial and interesting story narration, advocating a national and popular artistic style to express rural life. (Data Source: 山药蛋派 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 ( wikipedia.org )

3. Jiang Qing (19 March 1914 – 14 May 1991), also known as Madame Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary, actress, and major political figure during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). She was the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Communist Party and Paramount leader of China. Jiang was best known for playing a major role in the Cultural Revolution(Data source: Jiang Qing - Wikipedia )

4.- Sun Li (孙犁，May 11, 1913 - July 11, 2002), formerly known as Sun Shuxun, was a male from Anping, Hebei Province of China. He was a modern and contemporary Chinese novelist and essayist. He published his representative work "Chronicles of Baiyangdian" in the 1940s. The novel "Lotus Pond" in the work used revolutionary romanticism and created a Chinese literary school called the Lotus Pond School.(Data source: 孙犁 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 ( wikipedia.org )