Chairman Mao's literary level is extremely high, especially proficient in classical literature, extremely good at writing poetry and filling in words, and many poems are still selected for middle school textbooks.
It is precisely because of this literary attainment that Chairman Mao has set high demands on literary works. When he joined the revolution, he said that literature should be closely integrated with reality and closely linked to the people's lives, in other words, if you want to write good literary works, you must have a very deep understanding of society.
Among some writers in modern times, the only one who can achieve Chairman Mao's high demands is Lu Xun.
Lu Xun's understanding of Chinese society is obvious to all. The first vernacular novel, Diary of a Madman, is not difficult to see.
Therefore, Chairman Mao has praised Lu Xun on many occasions, saying that he is the first sage in China, Confucius is not, and he is a student of the sage. However, in addition to Lu Xun, Chairman Mao also favored the female writer Ding Ling, and wrote a poem for her. Today we will talk about why Ding Ling was favored by Chairman Mao.
Ding Ling first came to prominence in the domestic literary scene in 1928, when she published the short story "The Diary of Madam Sha fei", which became famous.
At this time, Chairman Mao was still in Jinggangshan, carrying out the construction of revolutionary base areas.
Due to the lack of information and the urgency of revolutionary work, Chairman Mao did not notice this rising star in the Chinese literary world.
Two years later, Ding Ling joined Lu Xun's Left-Wing Writers' Union, and under the influence of Lu Xun and other writers, Ding Ling was full of affection for the CCP and Chairman Mao.
In 1932, Ding Ling secretly joined the Ccp in Shanghai. After that, revolutionary activities began with other underground workers.
Just when the revolutionary work was booming, Ding Ling met Feng Da, but it did not take long before she was betrayed by Feng Da, and Ding Ling was kidnapped by the Kuomintang reactionaries and detained in Nanjing for 3 years.
In 1936, Ding Ling took advantage of the guards' lack of attention and escaped. After contacting her comrades working underground in Shanghai, she decided to go to Shaanxi and join the Red Army.
So with the help of the party, Ding Ling traveled to Xi'an, and then reached Bao'an County in Shaanxi, which was the seat of the CPC Central Committee at that time, which was later Zhidan County.
Ding Ling's arrival attracted the attention of the party, and before she came to Baoan County, there were no well-known writers here.
At that time, the party was organizing and developing the cultural construction work in the Soviet area, and there was a great shortage of cultural people like Ding Ling. Therefore, after Ding Ling came here, she attracted the attention of the party.
The Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee specially held a grand welcome banquet for Ding Ling's arrival in a large cave. At the banquet, representatives of all aspects of the Soviet Union gathered together, and even Zhou Enlai and Zhang Wentian, who were busy with work, attended the banquet.
Halfway through the banquet, Chairman Mao arrived late. This was the first time the two had met, but both were no strangers to each other. She had already learned about Chairman Mao's various deeds from other comrades.
Chairman Mao's literary style and military command ability made Ding Ling very admired.
Chairman Mao was also impressed by the firm will of the female comrade in front of him, and he was deeply trapped in the enemy army and persisted for three years without yielding.
After the banquet, Chairman Mao invited Ding Ling to a long talk.
During the conversation, Chairman Mao discovered that the two were actually fellow Hunan compatriots.
Ding Ling told him that she had attended Zhounan Middle School, that she was a good sister to Yang Kaihui, and that she had heard Mao Zedong's name at an early age. Ding Ling's words aroused Chairman Mao's recollection of the past.
After a moment of silence, Chairman Mao said to her humorously: "We are real fellow countrymen, and when we see our fellow countrymen, we don't have to weep." You're 11 years younger than me, so be a little sister! Without waiting for Ding Ling to reply, he said, "You have come here all the time, what are you going to do?" "
Ding Ling replied firmly, I want to be a soldier and a Red Army.
Chairman Mao was very happy about Ding Ling's revolutionary enthusiasm, and he said to Ding Ling that there had just been a battle on the front line recently, so you should go to the front with Yang Shangkun and the General Political Department of the Front led by yang Shangkun.
So Ding Ling, who had just arrived at the security guard, went to the front line with the troops.
Ding Ling was on the front line, participating in the war while writing. Her performance on the front line was very satisfactory to Chairman Mao and others. So in December 1936, Chairman Mao wrote the term "Linjiang Xian" with a stroke of his pen, which was specially given to Ding Ling, who was far away at the front line, by telegram.
Due to job changes, Ding Ling did not receive the poem at the front. By the time she learned that the chairman had written a poem specifically for her, she had returned to Yan'an, the new seat of the Ccp.
In early 1937, Ding Ling, who had returned from the front, went to visit Chairman Mao.
Chairman Mao asked her if she had received the gift, and she said no.
So Chairman Mao immediately wrote down the original words and gave them to her.
When she read the last two sentences of the words, "Miss Wen yesterday, General Wu today", she said with great excitement: "Thank you Chairman for cultivating!" Since then, she has regarded this handwriting of Chairman Mao as the most precious souvenir, and it was not published until the founding of New China in the 1980s.
After Ding Ling came to the Shaanxi Su District, many left-wing writers also came to Yan'an. At this time, the cultural circles in Yan'an needed a person to take on leadership responsibilities, and Ding Ling became the most suitable candidate.
In order to temper her, Chairman Mao wrote to the Political Department and recommended Ding Ling to serve as deputy director of the Political Department of the Central Guard Corps. After Ding Ling knew about it, she was very grateful to Chairman Mao for his weight, but at the same time she became timid, afraid that she would not be able to be the director.
So she went to Chairman Mao and said that she only wanted to write articles and be a journalist, not a director. Chairman Mao patiently enlightened her, "If you can do it, you won't learn it!" You're always willing to learn, right? There is nothing difficult in the world, only afraid of people with hearts, you want to be a Red Army, it shows that you are willing to learn the Red Army, as long as you are willing to learn, everything can be learned. If we make a revolution and engage in armed struggle, we will not start out! It is not a matter of learning in the middle of the work, dry learning, slowly learning. Under the guidance of Chairman Mao, Ding Ling gradually adapted to the position of director and did a very good job.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the central government set up a Northwest Field Service Regiment, with Ding Ling as the regimental commander.
Her duty was to organize the cultural circles in Yan'an, personally go to the front line to comfort the soldiers, and write a large number of works publicizing the anti-Japanese achievements of the Eighth Route Army to enhance the people's confidence in resisting Japan. Ding Ling has previous work experience, this time did not shirk, and actively accepted the party's arrangement.
After that, she led people from the cultural circles to run around the front line, collecting a large number of information on the soldiers and civilians of the Eighth Route Army fighting the Japanese army. After returning to Yan'an, she led these cultural figures to write one wonderful anti-Japanese work after another.
Some of these works she wrote were loved by the people, and some were questioned as "full of petty bourgeois sentiments". These doubts have even appeared in many public places in Yan'an.
Ding Ling, who heard the news, angrily approached Chairman Mao and asked him to uphold justice, and Chairman Mao told her, "I believe that you are a loyal Communist, but to draw written conclusions, you must find Comrade Chen Yun, director of the Central Organization Department." Finally, after the investigation of Chen Yun and relevant personnel, it was confirmed that "Ding Ling is still a communist party member loyal to the revolution."
The disappearance of the doubts made Ding Ling once again devote herself to her work with great enthusiasm.
In 1941, Yan'an founded the Liberation Daily, and Ding Ling was responsible for editing the literary and art supplement. But soon, she had a lot of questions about her new job. She approached Chairman Mao with doubts and said, "Chairman, you criticized people in your articles, and they were convinced, but why do people always have a dislike for the articles I wrote?" "
In response to Ding Ling's question, Chairman Mao taught that "critics should seek truth from facts and talk about dialectics." First talk about the strengths of others, and explain them thoroughly, and then criticize their mistakes or shortcomings, he will be convinced. "
Ding Ling listened to Chairman Mao's words and couldn't help but nod her head in gratitude.
However, after less than a year, Ding Ling was once again accused by other comrades for criticizing people, and finally even some generals on the front line joined in to criticize Ding Ling.
In this storm, although Chairman Mao also knew that Ding Ling's approach was wrong, he still decided to protect her, and at a congress, Chairman Mao made a summary of the incident, so that the storm gradually subsided.
Afterwards, Chairman Mao specifically talked to Ding Ling and said to her in a serious tone, "Internal criticism must be estimated by people's parents, affirm the advantages, and talk about the shortcomings, people will be easier to accept." After Chairman Mao finished speaking, Ding Ling quickly expressed her agreement.
After two incidents, Ding Ling finally thrived under the teachings of Chairman Mao. In 1944, Ding Ling's essay "Tian Baolin", based on real people and real events, was recognized by Chairman Mao.
He said happily to Ding Ling, "I finished watching "Tian Baolin" in one breath, and I am very happy. This is the beginning of your writing of workers, peasants, and soldiers, and I hope that you will continue to walk and celebrate your embarkation on a new literary path. Since then, at many meetings, Chairman Mao has publicly praised Ding Ling.
After being encouraged, Ding Ling went farther and farther down the road of revolutionary literature. In 1948, based on her life in the New Border Region of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, Ding Ling created a novel "The Sun Shines on the Sanggan River".
As soon as the work came out, it was unanimously recognized by the literary community. The work has also become one of Ding Ling's most representative works. It was also in this year that Ding Ling and her husband were reunited with Chairman Mao in Xibaipo, Hebei Province, and this time Chairman Mao's praise for her was a little higher, comparing her to Lu Xun, Contradiction, and Guo Moruo.
After the founding of New China, Ding Ling has always kept Chairman Mao's words firmly in mind, and in her future work, she has worked hard to combine the masses of the people and create a large number of people's literary works. Ding Ling died in Beijing in 1986.
For Ding Ling, Chairman Mao was more like a teacher, teaching her how to combine literature with the people to create better works. For Chairman Mao, Ding Ling is more like a young man who has just joined the revolution, and he is very willing to cultivate such a positive and enthusiastic young man on the revolutionary road.
Resources
XIONG Kunjing. The Literary Friendship between Ding Ling and Mao Zedong[J].Red Wide Angle, 2011, (No. 9).
HUANG Yukang. Mao Zedong and Ding Ling in the Yan'an Period[J].Archives Of Heaven and Earth, 2011, (No. 12).
Peng Qian. Mao Zedong's Gift to Ding Ling[J].Xiang Chao (First Half of the Month), 2017, (No. 6).