Lou Shiyi
Lou Shiyi (3 January 1905 – 20 April 2001) was a modern writer, translator and publisher. Born in January 1905 in Yuyao County, Zhejiang Province, to a well-to-do business family, he entered a private primary school at the age of six. In 1918, Lou Shiyi followed his father to Shanghai, first as an apprentice in Zhengxiang Qianzhuang, and then as a small clerk in Yishen Qianzhuang, eager to learn, insisted on self-study, had a wide range of interests, and began to submit articles to newspapers and periodicals such as "Declaration, Free Talk" and "Saturday". By 1922, he had published a number of half-written and half-white articles and literary works, and read a large number of works by the writers of the Creation Society.
In the spring of 1923, Lou Shiyi became acquainted with Guo Moruo, Cheng Fangwu, Yu Dafu and others, and founded the essay tabloid "Tender Green" with Chen Songling. In 1924, Lou Shiyi became acquainted with the practitioners, and joined the Shanghai Communications Library founded by the cultivators in 1921, and co-edited the "Shanghai Communications Library Monthly Newspaper" with the practitioners, and published some short articles on reading and seeking knowledge and social prospects.
In May 1928, Lou Shiyi published his first collection of short stories, Struggle. In this year, he joined the Sun Society, assisted Qian Xingyu and Jiang Guangci in their editorial work, and also studied under the name of Shanghai University of the Arts, and before going to Tokyo, Japan at the end of September 1929, he published dozens of creative and translated works in publications such as "Sun Monthly", "Sea Breeze Weekly", "Pioneer", "Sprout", and "Baihua" edited by Ah Ying and Yu Dafu, and published a second collection of short stories, "Illness and Dreams". He has attended lectures and exhibitions of the Japan Proletarian Literary League, participated in their summer universities, and met Japanese writers such as Takuji Kobayashi, Tsutomu Kurahara, Shigeharu Nakano, Narikiyoshi Knee, and Shigeharu Kawai. In addition to writing a newsletter report and sending it to the domestic Left League newspapers and periodicals for publication, he also created "Salt Field", which was deeply praised by Lu Xun and Mao Dun. In late April 1931, Lou Shiyi returned to Shanghai and immediately joined the Left League, and under the leadership of Feng Xuefeng, participated in the work of the party group of Wen Zong and the Left League. After the death of the five martyrs of the Left League, he secretly participated in the printing and distribution of a special commemorative issue of "Outpost", and soon after was appointed by the Left League to carry out work in the editorial department of "Literature and Art News", and under the leadership of Comrade Zhai Qiubai, he edited the "Vernacular Tabloid" cherished by Mr. Lu Xun.
After the "918" incident, Lou Shiyi created the one-act dramas "Living Road" and "S, O, S", and also participated in the establishment of the Chinese Young Esperanto Alliance, the Shanghai Cultural Circles Anti-Imperialist And Anti-Japanese Alliance, and the Chinese Writers Association, and served as the leader of the above organizations. After the "128" Songhu War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1932, he went deep into the battlefield and presided over the work of the Zhabei Branch of the Shanghai People's Anti-Japanese National Salvation Federation, and in late May, he was transferred to the Propaganda Department of the Jiangsu Provincial Cpc Committee of the CPC, responsible for the founding and editing of the "Mainland News". At the end of June 1932, he published his third collection of novels, The Third Period. In the autumn of that year, Lou Shiyi accompanied Chen Lian, who was recuperating in Shanghai, to visit Lu Xun's home. At the end of the year, he worked in the General Administration of Literature, hosted the magazine "Social Life", and in order to discuss the location of the Pan-Pacific Anti-War Congress in the Far East, he was entrusted by the party organization to travel east to Japan and returned to China in January 1933. He was later arrested for betrayal by traitors and imprisoned in Nanjing Prison after sentencing. Later, after his cousin Lou Weichun got in touch with Lu Xun, Lou Shiyi studied Marxist literary and art theory books sent by Lu Xun in prison and carried out some translation work.
In 1934, Lou Shiyi's short stories "Death" and "Salt Field" were recommended by Lu Xun and Mao Dun to be translated into English, and the novels "Grass Shoes Feet" and "Salt Field" were written into new literature for the first time. In 1935, Lou Shiyi translated Soviet and Japanese literary works such as "Human World" and "Burning Fire" in prison, which were published one after another in 1936.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Lou Shiyi was rescued from prison on July 11, 1937. Soon after, at the invitation of Yu Dafu, he went to Fuzhou, participated in the work of the Fuzhou Cultural Circles Salvation Association, and edited the "Fujian Xiaomin Bao" supplement "Literature and Art for Salvation", which quickly attracted the attention of the Kuomintang reactionaries and was forced to leave Fuzhou. In December, we arrived in Wuhan via Changsha. In January 1938, Xinhua Daily was founded, with Lou Shiyi as the editor of the supplementary magazine, and in February, he and Ye Shengtao and others founded the semi-monthly magazine "Young Pioneers" in Hankou. In March, he participated in the work of initiating the organization of the All-China Literary and Art Circles Anti-Enemy Association, and was elected as a director, and Edited "Literature and Art of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression" with Jiang Xijin and others. At the end of October of that year, Lou Shiyi left Wuhan for Guangzhou, and in early November arrived in Hong Kong, first assisting Mao Dun in editing "Literary and Art Front", and after Mao Dun went to Xinjiang in January 1939, he was the acting editor of "Literary and Art Front".
In July 1939, Lou Shiyi moved to Shanghai to continue to preside over the editorial staff of "Literary and Art Front", and also edited and printed the "Mainland Pictorial" magazine, which was mainly distributed in Singapore. In December 1940, he left the editorial board of "Literary and Art Front" and founded the monthly magazine "Mainland" with Qiu Zhong and others. In 1941, he and Jiang Xijin and others founded the "Benliu Literature and Art Series" and "Benliu New Collection" until the outbreak of the Pacific War. In the winter of 1944, he went to the Zhejiang East Base Area of the New Fourth Army in SimingShan to participate in cultural and educational work, edited a Japanese tabloid, and conducted united front education for Japanese prisoners. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, Lou Shiyi withdrew with his army north to Huaiyin, Jiangsu Province, and served as an editorial board member of the Central China Edition of Xinhua Daily. In May 1946, he returned to Shanghai as a supplement editor of times daily. In 1947, he and Jin Yi edited the "Chinese Writers", the official journal of the All-China Association of Literary and Art Circles, and at the end of the year, he left the "Times Daily" and went to Hong Kong, where he and Mao Dun, Zhou Erfu and others founded the monthly magazine "Novel". By the spring of 1949, Lou Shiyi had written a number of short stories and published a collection of essay features, "Miscellaneous Records of Siming Mountain".
In January 1949, Lou Shiyi left Hong Kong for Beijing, participated in the preparation of the All-China Congress of Literary and Artistic Workers, and was elected as a director and assigned to the General Administration of Publications. During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Lou Shiyi joined the volunteer army, served as the propaganda director of the Logistics and Political Department of the Northeast Military Region, and wrote a reportage on the life of automobile soldiers on the Korean battlefield. After returning to Beijing in 1952, he served as vice president and deputy editor-in-chief of the People's Literature Publishing House. He retired in 1976. During this period, in addition to serving as a publishing leader, Lou Shiyi translated the works of Soviet and Japanese revolutionary writers, such as Gorky's "In the Human World", "The Boss" and "Crab Worker Ship" by Takuji Kobayashi, which are still printed and reprinted many times. In the summer of 1984, Lou Shiyi published "Words and Rain", which contained 28 articles.
Note: Excerpt from Liu Weimin's writings