Storm and Fury -- A Collection of Contemporary Chinese Novels

Author: Zhou Libo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1952-04-01
Features: Fierce Storm is a classic work on land reform that rivals Ding Ling's The Sun Shines Over the Sanggan River. Set in a village called Yuanmaotun on the banks of the Songhua River in Northeast China, it depicts the sweeping revolutionary struggle of land reform, showcasing the earth-shattering changes that took place in rural China as it broke free from centuries of feudal production relations. The novel passionately celebrates the revolutionary spirit of Chinese peasants, led by the Communist Party, as they shattered the feudal net and sprinted towards liberation. Fierce Storm successfully portrays the lovable images of poor peasants such as Zhao Yulin, Guo Quanhai, Bai Yushan, Bai Dasi, and Liu Guilan. The character of the cheerful, boisterous, yet boastful and proud old cart driver, Lao Sunhead, is particularly vivid and well-developed. In shaping this character, the author was clearly influenced by Sholokhov's The Fertile Land. Lao Sunhead and Shukal Old Man are so similar in temperament, disposition, and personality! Similarly, the portrayal of the antagonists, such as the tyrannical landlord Han Laoliu and his lackey Han Changbo, is powerful and unconventional. In 1946, on the Northeast battlefield, the Northeast People's Liberation Army, after more than five months of fighting, shattered the enemy's full-scale offensive. However, with the U.S.-equipped Kuomintang army temporarily holding the advantage, the army concentrated its superior forces to attack the enemy while also deploying 25,000 cadres to rural areas. The slogan "Go to the countryside, go to the masses" was adopted to mobilize the broad peasant masses and launch a fierce storm of land reform in rural Northeast China, creating conditions for the army's future transition to a nationwide counteroffensive.