Chinese Literature

powerful portrayal of the commanders and men of the People’s Liberation Army and their revolutionary heroism. The author, Liu Pai-yu, worked aS a newspaper reporter with the people’s armed forces throughout the War of Liberation, and he has written a number of features and short stories about it in addition to Flames Ahead.

People’s Literature also published “The Battle at Shachiatien,” the most exciting part of the novel Wall of Bronze by Liu Ching.* Here the author realistically describes one phase in the People’s War of Liberation through the work at a grain depot supporting the front. The book shows the armed forces and the people of the Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia Border Region working as one under the leadership of the Communist Party and Chairman Mao Tse-tung, and thus winning through to victory despite heavy odds. Not only well-established writers like Liu Pai-yu and Liu Ching have written books around the War of Liberation. Many young writers have also turned out fine books on the same theme. For instance, the chapter “Fighting Along the Great Wall” from the novel Defence of Yenan by Tu Peng-chen, the story about the soldier Yin Ching-chun by Han Feng** and the play Steeled in Battle by Hu Ko stand out, and have won wide acclaim. Steeled in Battle has been successfully staged not only in many parts of China, but also in the Soviet Union, in Korea, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

When the war in Korea forced the Chinese people to launch their campaign to resist American aggression and aid Korea, to defend their country and safeguard world peace, the heroic exploits of the Chinese People’s Volunteers and the whole nation in this mighty struggle fired the imagination of writers. The novel A Thousand Long Miles by the well-known writer Yang Suo, which appeared in instalments in People’s Literature towards the end of 1952, is one of the best. The story tells of a corps of Chinese railwaymen who went to Koréa and showed in deeds the deep friendship which binds the people of China and Korea, the love the Chinese working class have for their country, and how well they understand the need to defend peace and justice. The novel shows, too, that this deep love of country, this inter-

national brotherhood, are shared by every one of the Chinese People’s

Volunteers.

A great many short stories, features and poems have been written on the theme of the Korean war. A good example is the story Comrade Huang Wen-yuan by the veteran writer Pa Chin*** which describes an ordinary young Chinese fighter in all his glory. Stories like the young writer Hai Mo’s Breaking Through at the 38th Parallel, The Iey Chan

* English translation published by the Foreign Languages Press, Peking.

*“* For English translation see Registration and Other Stories, published by the Foreign Languages Press, Peking.

*** For English translation see Living Amongst Heroes, published by the Foreign Languages Press, Peking. _

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