China's most famous authors 'sell their souls' with Chairman Mao speech tribute

[WestVirginiaRebel]

UK Telegraph:

On May 2, 1942, Mao Tse-tung addressed a gathering of writers and artists in his wartime base of Yan'an, instructing them to "completely integrate" their work with the Communist revolution.

Writers who did not produce books that glorified the revolution, attacked the opposition, and served the masses would be targeted by an "effective and serious campaign of rectification", he warned.

The speech amounted to an artistic death sentence; scores of writers were later punished or even executed for the counter-revolutionary tendencies of their work.

Today, China has abandoned Soviet-style control over its writers, but there remains state control and censorship and the shadow of Mao's speech still hangs over the publishing industry.

Hu Jintao, the president, described it as a "classic document" that laid down "the basic principles of Marxism and the practice of Chinese revolutionary art and literature".

To mark the 70th anniversary of the speech, the Writers Publishing House, one of China's most important literary publishers, produced a special book.

The country's most famous writers were asked to copy out sections of the speech by hand, and the vast majority meekly accepted, including internationally acclaimed authors such as Mo Yan, Han Shaogong and Su Tong, who wrote the Boat to Redemption. Some writers, including Yan Lianke, author of Dream of Ding Village, refused to take part.

The book has caused a stir in literary circles. "Anyone who knows about the history of the party would know the nature of this speech, which targeted intellectuals. The poison of this speech endures," said Ling Feng, a writer, on his blog.

"The writers who took part do not even have the basic ability to judge right from wrong. To the ones who are not ashamed of themselves, we should boycott their works," he said.

Xia Shang, another writer, said the writers had "sold their souls".

"Intellectuals should have independent minds and the courage to reject prestige from the government," he said.

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If you go around praising Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow...