(Continued above)
The editor-in-chief resigned less than a month later. He often complained about the workers. Ordinary people only eat and live in newspaper stores, and they don't get a few salaries. In the autumn and winter of this year, some of the backbone of the newspaper resigned one after another. In order to promote the idea of peace and democracy, my father continued to insist on running the newspaper despite his poverty.
Because the newspaper was able to speak on behalf of the people and expose and denounce the conspiracy of the Kuomintang reactionaries, it was sabotaged by the Kuomintang authorities in Wuhan. One morning in March 1947, a group of spies smashed the Wuhan Times, and the newspaper ceased publication. My father was forced to leave the newspaper. A few months later, the Wuhan Times was published again, but its nature changed and it became reactionary.
During his time at the Wuhan Times, my father also edited and printed a number of publications: he helped Wei Shaowen edit an issue of "Survival"; Shao Quanlin printed two issues of "Study"; he also printed anti-American leaflets for progressive students at Wuhan University, and participated in demonstrations with the students. My father also went to Luojia Mountain many times to discuss current affairs with progressive students.
Because of his progressive thinking, he actively participated in the mass movement for peace and democracy led by the Communist Party of China and opposed the civil war, and was supported and praised by Shao Quanlin, the leading comrade of the Wuhan cultural and art party.
After the Wuhan Times was smashed, Wei Shaowen, the principal of Hankou Private Minzhi Middle School, invited his father to become a Chinese language teacher. Soon after he left, news of his arrest came to him, and his friends sent him to a troupe to hide himself, and took advantage of the troupe's departure from Hankow to send his father to Shanghai in April 1947.
After my father arrived in Shanghai, he met his friends Zhao Jibin, Qin Linshu and others who had worked together in Chongqing and Wuhan in the past. He first worked as an editor at the Great China Book Bureau run by Jin Zhenyu on North Sichuan Road, and was introduced by Qin Linshu to work as a part-time Chinese language teacher at Daren Middle School in Xujiahui. At this time, his mother, who had been separated from his father for ten years, took her daughter Xiaozhong from Beiping to Shanghai to find him. The eldest son, Xiaoqing, still stayed in Peiping to go to school. At that time, the family of three lived in Daren Middle School.
In Shanghai under the White Terror, his father covered up Comrade Ouyang Zhang, an underground party member, and kept him at home, and later Ouyang Zhang moved elsewhere. It was difficult for our family to live for a long time, so we left Shanghai and moved to the house of Mr. Gu Jiegang in Gujia Garden in Suzhou. My father stayed alone in Shanghai and participated in the "People's Weekly" edited by Mr. Gu Jiegang.
Mr. Gu Jiegang was a professor at Suzhou Institute of Education at the time and the editor-in-chief of Shanghai Wentong Book Company. He edited the "People's Weekly", and the specific work was entrusted to his father. According to Mr. Gu's intentions, my father made this publication a popular publication. Therefore, this is also a continuation of his popular literary work.
My father was in Shanghai, and in order to support the family, he not only had a heavy job, but also lived a very difficult life. He lived in a pavilion, where he had to compile publications and articles, and prepare lessons for teaching. In order to make a living, he not only taught Mandarin at Daren Middle School, but also taught animals and plants and high school biology. He also promoted progressive ideas in his classes and rallied many progressive students around him. At the time of the liberation of Shanghai, these progressive students took part in revolutionary work.
During this period, my father also compiled the popular books of natural science knowledge, "Man and Water", and "Research on Popular Readings". These two books were published by Kaiming Bookstore and Chung Hwa Book Company respectively. My father also often wrote for "Enlightened Youth", reviewed manuscripts for Life Bookstore, and did a lot of work to popularize cultural knowledge.
Among them, the book "Research on Popular Readings", about 50,000 words, consists of six chapters, which describe the tasks of education, the foundation of society, the requirements of the times, the attitude of writing, the skills of literature, and the scientific method, and systematically expound some theoretical and technical issues on popular literature and art. (See the first episode of Zhonghua Book Company's "People's Education in the Chinese Library", the first edition of June 37 of the Republic of China.) This book can be said to be a theoretical summary of my father's long-term commitment to the creation and research of popular literature and art before liberation.
Work hard for the prosperity of socialist cultural undertakings
In 1949, Shanghai was liberated. His father not only encouraged his eldest son, Xiaoqing, who had already joined the People's Liberation Army, to fight bravely, but also sent away his wife and daughter Xiaozhong, who had just been reunited with him, and both mother and daughter joined the southbound work group. My mother became the captain of the team, and because of her excellent work, she was awarded a third-class meritorious service, and later worked in the Fujian Provincial Department of Education. Xiao Zhong was just 15 years old and later worked in the Fujian Provincial Party Committee Art Troupe.
My father lives alone in Shanghai, but he is in good spirits and in a good mood. According to Wei Shaowen and others, he went to Ta Kung Pao as an editor and was responsible for the work of the social service edition. In February 1950, at the invitation of Joint Publishing Company, my father traveled from Shanghai to Beijing and worked as an editor at Joint Publishing for one year.
After the summer vacation of 1951, the Sanlian Bookstore was abolished, and all staff members were transferred to the People's Publishing House and the People's Literature Publishing House. My father was transferred to the People's Literature Publishing House and worked as an editor in the editorial department of modern literature.
In 1953, the Editorial Department of Modern Literature was renamed the First Editorial Office. In 1954, Yan Chen, the director of the first editorial office, resigned, and his father succeeded him as director. The most prominent of the books published between 1954 and 1956 is the reprint of the excellent works of the writers of the 30s. To this end...... In China, his father was labeled as "promoting the black line of literature and art".
In 1957, my father became the leader of the May Fourth Group of Chinese Literature. Later, in the first room, a mass creation group was set up, and my father was transferred to the team leader.
In 1960, my father was transferred to the Writers Publishing House, first as the leader of the poetry and prose group, and then as the leader of the mass creation group. At the end of the year, my father was transferred to the compilation institute as the head of the Chinese group.
In his editorial work at the People's Literature Publishing House, my father worked diligently and tirelessly for 30 years, often traveling from place to place, often sparing no effort for the publication of a book. For example, in order to publish the book "Lin Hai Xueyuan", he negotiated with the author Comrade Qu Bo many times, and finally made this novel a famous work at home and abroad after its publication.
When he edited "A Brief History of New Chinese Literature" for Comrade Ding Yi, he repeatedly checked the materials, revised them word by word, and personally inscribed the title of the book. He edited and published many books, and after the books were published, he actively wrote recommended articles and book reviews. Because he was busy contributing to other people's writings, he didn't write much personally.
During this period, his works include: Zheng Chenggong, a biography of historical figures published by China Youth Publishing House in August 1955, and books such as Zheng Chenggong's Recovery of Taiwan and Zhongshan Wolf published by Juvenile and Children's Publishing House. In addition, he is a frequent contributor to the book "Language Learning" edited by Ye Shengtao.
In order to popularize the knowledge of literary and artistic creation, my father was invited by the Beijing Municipal People's Radio Station to give a lecture on "How to Write Prose" in the "Literature Lecture", and personally went to the cultural centers in Tongxian and other places in the suburbs to tutor the remaining writers of industry and agriculture, which was welcomed.
In March 1953, my father joined the China Association for the Promotion of Democracy in Beijing. In his participation in the work of the democratic parties, he worked hard to implement the party's united front policy and did a great deal of work to unite the broad masses of intellectuals and patriotic democrats.
...... Although it is close to ancient times, it is still sent to Xianning and Danjiang in Hubei Province to grow rice. The books and manuscripts of his home were also looted, and all the manuscripts of "Strange Tales from Liaozhai", which he had painstakingly translated in vernacular for many years, were burned. It left him physically and mentally traumatized.
After 1976, he became seriously ill and began to be paralyzed,...... In spite of his serious illness, he still insisted on exercising his body and practicing calligraphy, hoping to recover his health and continue to work for the country and the people; in particular, when he heard about the correct line and various principles and policies formulated by the Third Plenary Session of the 11 th CPC Central Committee, he happily expressed his resolute support and longed for the early realization of the mainland's four modernizations.
My father died at 7:15 p.m. on October 17, 1980. After his father's death, hundreds of people from the literary and publishing circles and his father's former friends attended his memorial service. In the midst of the wreaths, a pale ink painting hangs. This is a bouquet of elegant white chrysanthemums specially painted by Comrade Hu Jieqing, the wife of Lao She, who is already in his prime. Her deep affection for her old friend is also condensed in her solemn and healthy inscription:
You are the best supporting actor, you have been an unsung hero all your life, you are your closest friend, and you are a rare loyal confidant for forty years. I want to present you with a bouquet of chrysanthemum! Fang Bai's old friend, as an eternal memorial.
Hu Jieqing presents
This is the best portrayal of my father's life.