Chinese 20TH-Century Literature In Translation:
The 100 Flowers Movement & The Anti-Rightist Movement/Campaigns: "The Great Wind" By Chang Hsien-liang
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"The Great Wind"
By Chang Hsien-liang (Zhang Xianliang) Beginning on page 4 below, you will find, in this order:
1. Chang Hsien-liang 's poem: "The Great Wind". Published July 1957 in that month's issue of the journal Yen Ho = The Yen River. 2. Chang's letter to the editors. Written before the poem was actually published. Chang's letter is dated April 7, 1957, and is the young poet Chang's response to the editorial board's letter with comments on "The Great Wind", he'd just submitted to be published in their journal Yen Ho (= The Yen River). Neither letter was intended to be published. Chang assumed that what he wrote to the Editor ("Comrade Editor") was part of the usually unpublished type of correspondence that takes place between an author submitting original creative work (here, poetry) to a journal and the l ikewise private/unpublished response from the journal's editors, mailed to the author. 3. The Editorial Board's self-criticism. The editors fault themselves for having mistakenly not understood how politically subversive and traitorous the poem and poet are. As the Hundred Flowers Movement morphed into the Anti-Rightist Campaign, the political atmosphere rapidly turned paranoid, poisonous, and extremely perilous. Witness how the editors strive to place as much possible blame this "reactionary" poet and his poem (i.e., to cover their asses), to avoid being labeled as "rightist" with its concomitant severe punishment and suffering. The Editorial Board's criticism and distancing of themselves from "The Great Wind" is clearly in response to Chairman Mao's sudden reversal of the 100 Flowers Campaign and his launching of the vicious intellectual witch hunt --the Anti-Rightist Campaign. 4. Chang's "AFTERWORD" to the poem. This Afterword probably immediately followed his poem when Chang first submitted it, but the Editors left it out of the July issue. A month later, when they are in political hot water for publishing the poem, they publish Chang's"AFTERWORD" together with their self-criticism, to help make the case against the poet even more damning, and clearly distance themselves from its "shallowness". 5. An Ch'i criticism of "The Great Wind" Chang Hsien-liang. Lastly, we'll read an histrionic attack typical of tbe Anti-Rightist Campaign, exemplified in a letter from a Yen Ho reader named An Ch'i (= An Qi).
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20TH-Century Chinese Literature In Translation:
The 100 Flowers Movement & The Anti-Rightist Movement/Campaigns: "The Great Wind" By Chang Hsien-liang
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To help clarify and historically contextualize this simple poem by a wellmeaning, patriotic, college age (21 year old) student, here is a simple timeline of the 100 Flowers Movement and the Anti-rightist Campaign 1) January 1956 through Spring 1957: Speeches from PRC Premier Zhou Enlai, from Mao himself, and from the director of the powerful CCP's Central Committee Propaganda Department Lu Dingyi, encourage expressions of dissent and more creative freedom for intellectuals working in all fields. This is the 100 FLOWERS CAMPAIGN, named for Mao's quotation of the ancient phrase "Let a hundred flowers bloom: let a hundred schools of thought contend" ( ). 2) [January]/February 1957: Beckoned by the 100 Flowers call, Chang Hsien-liang writes and submits (via snail mail) the Part I of his poem: "The Great Wind" to the journal Yen Ho = The Yen River Journal. Wind". 3) February 1957: The Editors/Editorial Board of Yen Ho Journal receive Part I "The Great
4) March (approx.) 1957: The Editors/Editorial Board of Yen Ho Journal (referred to by Chang as "Comrade Editor", who stands for the group) send Chang their comments on his poem. We aren't shown this letter from the Editors to Chang. However, while they are quite critical of its emotional excesses, the overall response from the Editorial team must have been positive, signaled by their request for Part II of the poem, which they would not ask for were they not indicating the likelihood of publishing the entire poem. 5) April 7, 1957: Chang completes a lengthy letter responding to the Editor's criticism We aren't provided with a copy of their letter back to him, in which they rejected his poem for publication (they liked the first half, but felt the latter half was too pessimistic and "morbid"). He humbly concedes to all the editor's points, but also defends himself, his and poetics, the meaning of the poem. Soon thereafter, he sends the letter together with Part II of "The Great Wind" and the Afterword to the poem. 6) May 1957: The Editors/Editorial Board of Yen Ho Journal receive Chang's letter, along with Part II of "The Great Wind" and the Afterword to the poem. 7) May through June of 1957 (approx.): The peak of the sense of freedom of public/published expression and sanctioned criticism of the CCP and PRC culture and society. Intellectuals, including poets such as Chang Hsien-liang, finally begin, en masse, to speak out as encouraged and address problems that concerned them. They were soon launching sharp attacks on the deficiencies they saw during the early years of Communist rule. They let out all of their repressed criticism of the CCP, its policies, and what they saw as negative developments in PRC culture and society as a result of CCP policy. 8) Mid-to-late June 1957: After only about 6 weeks of "blooming and contending", the volume and variety of critical responses was overwhelming and now disturbed and angered Mao. He now began to feel betrayed by the intellectuals, especially their numerous harsh criticisms of the party's treatment of the educated, technological experts, artists, and writers.
20TH-Century Chinese Literature In Translation:
The 100 Flowers Movement & The Anti-Rightist Movement/Campaigns: "The Great Wind" By Chang Hsien-liang
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9) Probably sometime in June 1957: The Editors/Editorial Board of Yen Ho Journal decide they will publish "The Great Wind" in their upcoming July 1957 issue. They probably send the issue to the printers just before the 100 Flowers Movement turns into the Anti-Rightist Campaign. 10) July 1957: Mao officially terminates the 100 Flowers Movement, turns on intellectuals who answered his request to speak out and now labels them "counterrevolutionaries/Rightists," launching the Anti-Rightist Movement/Campaign ( ). 11) July 1957: Chang Hsien-liang's poem "The Great Wind" appears in the July 1957 issue of Yen Ho Journal. This issue appears almost exactly as he Anti-Rightist Campaign is taking off. 12) August 1957: To distance themselves and their journal Yen Ho from this "reactionary" poet, the editors publish Chang's April letter to them in the August issue of the journal, together with Their Editorial Board's self-criticism and his original afterword to the poem. 13) August 1957: The Yen Ho editors publish a letter from a reader named An Ch'I excoriating "The Great Wind" and Chang Hsien- liang. 14) Soon thereafter (@ 1957/58): Chang Hsien-liang was severely criticized for this poem during the Anti-Rightist Campaign: At the young age of only 21, mainly because of this poem, he was imprisoned in labor camps, state farms, and prisons for the next 20 years.
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20TH-Century Chinese Literature In Translation:
The 100 Flowers Movement & The Anti-Rightist Movement/Campaigns: "The Great Wind" By Chang Hsien-liang
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20TH-Century Chinese Literature In Translation:
The 100 Flowers Movement & The Anti-Rightist Movement/Campaigns: "The Great Wind" By Chang Hsien-liang
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20TH-Century Chinese Literature In Translation:
The 100 Flowers Movement & The Anti-Rightist Movement/Campaigns: "The Great Wind" By Chang Hsien-liang
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20TH-Century Chinese Literature In Translation:
The 100 Flowers Movement & The Anti-Rightist Movement/Campaigns: "The Great Wind" By Chang Hsien-liang
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20TH-Century Chinese Literature In Translation:
The 100 Flowers Movement & The Anti-Rightist Movement/Campaigns: "The Great Wind" By Chang Hsien-liang
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20TH-Century Chinese Literature In Translation:
The 100 Flowers Movement & The Anti-Rightist Movement/Campaigns: "The Great Wind" By Chang Hsien-liang
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20TH-Century Chinese Literature In Translation:
The 100 Flowers Movement & The Anti-Rightist Movement/Campaigns: "The Great Wind" By Chang Hsien-liang
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20TH-Century Chinese Literature In Translation:
The 100 Flowers Movement & The Anti-Rightist Movement/Campaigns: "The Great Wind" By Chang Hsien-liang
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20TH-Century Chinese Literature In Translation:
The 100 Flowers Movement & The Anti-Rightist Movement/Campaigns: "The Great Wind" By Chang Hsien-liang
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20TH-Century Chinese Literature In Translation:
The 100 Flowers Movement & The Anti-Rightist Movement/Campaigns: "The Great Wind" By Chang Hsien-liang
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