1. This article has been translated into English in Nie, Hualing (ed.), Literature of the Hundred Flowers (New York:Columbia University Press 1981), Vol. 1, p. 121–44.Google Scholar

2. Qin Zhaoyang xiaoshuo xuan (Selected Stories of Qin Zhaoyang) (Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1982), Zixu (Preface), p. 1.

3. Chinese studies on Qin Zhaoyang include the following articles: Lin, Manshu, “Qin Zhaoyang de xiuzhengzhuyi wenyi sixiang” (“The revisionist literary thought of Qin Zhaoyang”), Zhanwang (Prospect), No. 201 (1970), pp. 21–23Google Scholar; Yang, Yi, “Qin Zhaoyang de zuopin he wenyiguan” (“Qin Zhaoyang's work and literary stand”), Dangdai wenyi (Contemporary Literature and Art) (1976), pp. 88–93;Google ScholarLin, Manshu et al. Zhongguo dangdai wenxue shi gao 1949–1965 (A Draft History of Contemporary Chinese Literature 1949–1965) (Paris: 1978), pp. 56–60 and 106–109Google Scholar; Liu, Wenyong: “Fang Qin Zhaoyang” (“An interview with Qin Zhaoyang”), Wide Angle, No. 85 (1979), pp. 24–29.Google Scholar

4. The role of Qin Zhaoyang as a literary critic and editor has been studied in Vibeke, Børdahl, Strateger i Kinas litteratur. Dokumentsamling afmoderne kinesisk litteraturteori og-kritik 1927–67 (Strategists of Chinese Literature. Documents from Modern Chinese Literary Theory and Criticism) (Copenhagen: Rhodos, 1978), Vol. 2, pp. 341–95. A batch of the articles condemning Qin in 1958 were published in: Shehuizhuyi xianshizhuyi lunwen ji (A Collection of Articles on Socialist Realism), II (Shanghai: Shanghai wenyi chubanshe, 1959), and in Xianshizhuyi haishi xiuzhengzhuyi (Realism or Revisionism?) (Beijing: Zuojia chubanshe, 1959).Google Scholar

5. Biographical information on Qin Zhaoyang can be found in the sources below, more or less reliable. The information provided in the above biography has all been checked with Qin Zhaoyang himself during several afternoons in May 1984. Lin, Manshu, Zhongguo dangdai zuojia xiaozhuan (Short Biographies of Contemporary Authors in China) (Paris, 1976), pp. 128–29Google Scholar. Li, Liming, Zhongguo xiandai liubai zuojia xiaozhuan (600 Short Biographies of the Authors of Modern China) (Hong Kong, 1977), pp. 314—15Google Scholar. Lin, Manshu, Zhongguo dangdai wenxueshi gao 1949–1965 (A Draft History of Contemporary Chinese Literature 1949–1965) (Paris, 1978), pp. 56–60 and pp. 106–109. Zhongguo wenxuejia cidian (Dictionary of Chinese Authors) (Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1979), pp. 485–87Google Scholar. Qin, Zhaoyang, “Tongnian” (“Youth”), Qingming (Brightness), No. 1 (1980) pp. 113–30. Qin Zhaoyang xiaoshuo xuan (Selected Stories of Qin Zhaoyang) (Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1982), Zixu (Preface), pp. 1–13 and Zuojia xiaozhuan (A Small Biography of the Author), pp. 479–80.Google Scholar

6. From 1946 to 1947 Qin edited the paper of the military district of Central Hebei, Qianxianbao (The Front), and in this newspaper he published another of his early stories: “Niang” (“The mother”). In 1948 he became editor of Huabei wenyi (North China Literature and Art), a paper published by the Literary Association of North China.

7. Qin published short stories, one-act dramas and essays in the following papers: Changcheng (The Great Wall), Befang wenhua (Culture of the North), both from Zhangjiakou, and Yizhong daobao (Hebei Guide) from central Hebei. Some works were published in small pamphlets.

8. In 1947 Qin became a member of the Standing Committee for the Association of Cultural Workers of central Hebei.

9. The major collections of stories and novels by Qin Zhaoyang are as follows: Pingyuan shang (On the Plains) (Beijing: Tianxia tushu gongshi. 1949, 1950) (stories: “Niang,” “Chouhen,” “Lu,” “He Huaxiu”); “Huzuir” shuo mei (“Pot Mouth” Goes Matchmaking) (Beijing: Wenyi jianshe. congshu, Sanlian shudian, 1950) (stories: “ ‘Huzuir’ shuo mei,” “Dong xi Lizhuang de gushi,” “Peng bizi guai wan,” “Laotou Liu Mantun,” “Xingfu,” “Xiangsi shu,” “Waibozi bing,” “Chuishiyuan Xiong Laotie,” “Wei haizimen zhufu”); Xingfu (Happiness) (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1956) (stories: “Shuo mei,” Dong xi Lizhuang de gushi,” “Zai Shitaicun,” “Laotou Liu Mantun,” “Xingfu,” “Xiangsi shu,” “Chuishiyuan Xiong Laotie,” “Wei haizimen zhufu”); Nongcun sanji (Village Sketches) (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1954 1955) (stories: “Jizao,” “Ouran tingdao de gushi,” “Liu Laoji,” “Shangwu,” “Qiu'e,” “Liangdai ren,” “Han Zenglu,” “Qin jia,” “Jingxuan.” “Ma Daifu,” “Wang Yonghuai,” “Yao Liangcheng,” “Maisui,” “Lao yanggong”): Zai tianye shang, qianjin! (Forwards in the Fields!) (Beijing: Zuojia chubanshe. 1956; Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1982) (novel); Yifeng shidao de xin (A Letter That Was Picked Up) (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1979) (stories: “Zhuozi he kuaizi de gushi,” “Lu,” “He Huaxiu,” “Chuishiyuan Xiong Laotie,” “Waibozi bing,” “Shuo mei,” “Dong xi Lizhuang de gushi,” “Laotou Liu Mantun,” “Xingfu,” “Xiangsi shu,” “Yugu,” “Jizao,” “Ouran tingdao de gushi,” “Liu Laoji,” “Shangwu,” “Qin jia,” “Qiu'e,” “Liangdai ren,” “Xuanju,” “Wang Yonghuai,” “Yao Liangcheng.” “Lao yanggong,” “Yifeng shidao de xin”); Nuer de xin (Letters From My Daughter) (Tianjin: Baihua wenyi chubanshe, 1980, 1981) (novelette); Qin Zhaoyang xiaoshuo xuan (Selected Stories of Qin Zhaoyang) (Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe. 1982) (stories: the same as in Yifeng shidao de xin plus: “Chenmo,” “Suxing,” “Jinian,” “Huida,” “Sun Hou qiu yu ji,” “Nuer de xin”); Dadi (The Great Earth) (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1984).

10. Xiao yanzi wanli feixing ji (The Long Flight of the Small Swallows) (Beijing: Qingnian chubanshe, 1950), and Tewu zhen kehen (Spies are Really Detestable) (Beijing: Qingnian chubanshe, 1951).

11. The Long Flight won the Chinese Writers’ Association's prize for Children's Literature 1952. The book was subsequently translated into English and French.

12. In 1957 Village Sketches was published by the Waiwen chubanshe in English, German and French.

13. Zai tianye shang, qianjin! (Forward in the Fields) (Beijing: Zuojia chubanshe, 1956). The book was translated into Korean in 1957.

14. On the question why it was Qin Zhaoyang that was held responsible for the publication policy of People's Literature in 1956, and not the main editor Yan Wenjing, Qin told me already in 1980 that Yan had been ill during this period. He confirmed that he had actually had the main responsibility at that time. This was not something made up by the critics of the Anti-Rightist Movement.

15. This programme, called Renmin wenxue gaijin jihua yaodian (Some Points in a Programme for Improving People's Literature), has never been officially printed, but it was circulated to the staff of People's Literature in some duplicated form. Qin has provided me with a handwritten copy of the programme, which corresponds very well with the points that were published in quotations in a critical article by Zhang Guangnian: “Hao yige ‘gaijin jihua'!” (“What a good ‘programme for improvement'!”), Renmin wenxue No. 4 (1958), pp. 103–107.

16. Qin, Zhaoyang, Lun gongshihua, gainianhua (On Schematism and Formulism) (Beijing:Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1954). A collection containing eight articles 1950–53Google Scholar. A comprehensive collection of Qin's literary theory, containing the better part of these articles, has recently been published: Qin, Zhaoyang, Wenxue tanlu ji (Literary Explorings) (Beijing:Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1984).Google Scholar

17. He, Zhi (pseud, for Qin Zhaoyang): “Xianshizhuyi - guangkuo de daolu” (“Realism - the broad path”), Renmin wenxue, No. 9 (September 1956), pp. 1–13. Also in, Zhongguo xiandai wenxue shi cankao ziliao (Documents on Modern Chinese Literary History (Beijing, 1959), Vol. Ill, pp. 652–73.Google Scholar

18. Cf. fn. 37.

19. Liangbei ren (Two Generations), Guangxi wenyi (Guangxi Literature and Arts), 1963–64, Chs 1–21, unfinished. Finished version published under the title: Dadi (The Great Earth) (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1984).

20. Wei Renmin (pseud, for the writing group, consisting of more than 10 persons), Chuan yunshan (Penetrating the Cloudy Mountains) (Nanning: Guangxi renmin chubanshe, 1977).

21. Cf. He Xilai, An Fan, Tian Zhongmu: “Chong ping ‘Xianshizhuyi – guangkuo de daolu’” (“A re-evaluation of “Realism – the broad path”), Wenxue pinglun (Literary Criticism), No. 4 (August 1979), pp. 51–65, and Zheng Bonong, “Xianshizhuyi – quzhe de daolu” (“Realism-a tortuous path”), Wenyibao (Literary Gazette), No. 10 (1979), pp. 22–28.

22. In May 1984 Qin gave me the following description of how the story came to be: it is based on a personal experience, and shortly after the events described in the story, Qin wrote down in his diary the “witty story” told by the peasant. He heard this story while living with one of the poor peasants in the village Tu'ancun in Pingshan district at the time when the United University was situated there. This was in the summer of 1940. Five years later he added the framework to the story describing the atmosphere in the room, the lazy son, etc. In 1946 it was printed in the magazine Beifang wenhua. The story was first published in book form in a collection of stories written by several authors: Shao Zinan, deng, Dilei zhen (Mine Warfare) (Hong Kong:Xinminzhu chubanshe, 1949, pp. 131–38)Google Scholar. Here the story is dated 1946, probably according to the publication in Beifang wenhua. In later editions (1979, 1982) Qin Zhaoyang has marked the story as written in 1940. Mine Warfare has been considered one of the finest collections of short stories from its time. In his monumental work from the early 1950s Die literatur des Befreiten China und ihre Volkstraditionen (Prag, 1955), J. Prusek comments especially positively on this collection, cf. p. 284. The book includes some of the best stories by such renowned authors as Kang, Zhuo and Yang, Shuo. Qin, Zhaoyang's little story of only a few pages was presented in good company.Google Scholar

23. Dilei zhen (Mine Warfare), p. 135.

24. This part of the anecdote seems to be a kind of migratory legend. In her famous cooking book Buwei Yang Chao describes the Hunan dishes, where extra long chopsticks are used. “They tell stories about people in Hunan sitting across the table and feeding each other because the chopsticks are so long they can't bring their ends to their own mouths!” Buwei Yang, Chao: How to Cook and Eat in Chinese (London, 1956; 1972), p. 36.Google Scholar

25. Dilei zhen (Mine Warfare), p. 137.

26. When Qin Zhaoyang had this story republished in 1979 and 1982 he changed the title of the story to “Zhuozi he kuaizi de gushi” (“The story of the table and the chopsticks”). Qin told me that he had changed the title, because he feared that young readers might automatically throw the book aside as “more of that stereotyped stuff” that they had become fed up with during the Cultural Revolution. To me the original title seems to fall in so much better with the atmosphere of the peasant story.

27. Mao, Zedong “Zhongguo gongchandang zai minzu zhanzheng zhong de diwei” (“The role of the Chinese Communist Party is the National War”), October 1938, Mao Zedong xuan ji (1964, 1969), p. 500. Selected Works of Mao tse-tung (Beijing:Foreign Languages Press, 1967), p. 210.Google Scholar

28. “'Huzuir’ shuo mei” was written in 1950 and included in a story collection with the same title, Qin, Zhaoyang: “Huzuir” shuo mei (Beijing:Wenyi jianshe congshu, 1950), pp. 1–18. The following year it was republished under a new title, “Shuo mei” (“Matchmaking”), in the collection Xingfu (Happiness), pp. 1–19. The story continued to be called “Matchmaking” in later editions (1979 and 1982, cf. fn. 9).Google Scholar

29. The surname of Mrs Hu is homonymous with her nickname: hu - a pot. So besides the meaning of the nickname “pot-mouth” it also constitutes a pun on her actual name.

30. “Jizao” (“Sacrifice to the Kitchen God”), written May 1953, included in Nongcun sanji (1954), pp. 1–9. English translation in Chinese Literature, No. 1 (1954), and in Registration and Other Stories (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1954), pp. 217–26.

31. “Gaizao” (“Re-education”), published in Renmin wenxue, No. 3 (1950).

32. Xu Guolun “Ping ‘Gaizao’” (“A criticism of ‘Re-education’”), Renmin wenxue (1950), p. 85. Luo Ming, “Yangaile jieji maodun de benzhi” (“He has covered up the essence of class antagonism”), Renmin wenxue (1950), pp. 86–87. Qin Zhaoyang, “Dui ‘Gaizao’ de jiantao” (“A self-criticism of ‘ Re-education’”), Renmin wenxue (1950), pp. 87–88.

33. Cf. the similar method of the rich widow in “‘Pot-mouth’ goes match-making”: she wants to make her future son-in-law work the land for her household in order to spare her spoiled daughter as well as herself.

34. Luo Ming, “He has covered up,” p. 87.

35. Xu Guolun, “A criticism,” p. 85.

36. Cf. Joe C. Huang, Heroes and Villains in Communist China (New York. 1973).

37. He, Youhua (pseud, for Qin Zhaoyang), “Chenmo” (“Silence”), Renmin wenxue (1957), pp. 26–27. Translated into English by Jean James, “Silence” in: Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 8, No. 2 (1976), pp. 12–15.Google Scholar

38. In his long preface to the collection Selected Stories of Qin Zhaoyang, pp. 7–8, he gives the background for the story “Silence,” which was for the first time republished here. In his short story collection from 1979 he did not yet include this story.

39. This argument is especially stressed in Ai Wu, “Ping ‘Chenmo’” (“A criticism of ‘Silence’”), Renmin wenxue, No. 5 (1958), pp. 103–104.

40. Yao, Wenyuan, “Bo Qin Zhaoyang wei zichanjieji zhengzhi fuwu de lilun” (“A criticism of the theories of Qin Zhaoyang, which serve the bourgois policy”), Wenxue yanjiu, No. 3 (1958), p. 118.Google Scholar

41. Ai, Wu, “A criticism of‘Silence.’”Google Scholar

42. Qiao, Yu, “Qin Zhaoyang yanzhong de nongcun” (“How the peasants look in the eyes of Qin Zhaoyang”), Renmin wenxue, No. 3 (1958).Google Scholar

43. Zhu, Zhai, “Qin Zhaoyang de shenshou” (“The tricks of Qin Zhaoyang”), Renmin wenxue, No. 4 (1958), p. 110.Google Scholar

44. It is interesting that Qin Zhaoyang has never republished this story, not even in his collection from 1982 where he included his most severely criticized story, “Silence.”

45. Selected Stories of Qin Zhaoyang, Zixu (Preface), p. 8.