Seeking a Home: A Study of the Creation Society

Author: Xian Liqiang / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: On March 2, 1930, the Chinese Left-Wing Writers League (Zuo Lian) held its founding meeting on the second floor of the China Art University at Beisidu Road, North Sichuan Road, Shanghai. Among all the members attending the meeting, more than one-third were associates of the Creation Society. In the initial list of Zuo Lian members, 19 individuals from the Creation Society were included: Feng Naiqiao, Hua Han, Gong Binlu, Shen Yechen, Qiu Yun duo, Peng Kang, Zhou Quanping, Zheng Boqi, Zhu Jingwo, Tian Han, Wang Yiliu, Jiang Guangci, Ye Lingfeng, Yu Dafu, Tao Jingsun, Li Chuli, Xu Xingzhi, Guo Moruo, and Shen Qiyu. Additionally, other associates of the Creation Society, such as He Wei, Wang Xuewen, Fang Guangtao, Bai Wei, Mu Mutian, and Zhou Yuying, joined the Zuo Lian later. As some researchers have pointed out, "most of the Creation Society members later joined the Left-Wing Writers League and achieved greater development." In reality, the Zuo Lian became another battlefield for the Creation Society associates to continue their struggles after being suppressed. With the founding of the Zuo Lian, "the Creation Society faded away invisibly and became a term in literary history." At the time of the Zuo Lian's establishment, Jiang Guangci was a member of the Sun Society, Tian Han belonged to the Nan Guo Society, and Zhou Quanping, Ye Lingfeng, Zhou Yuying, and Yu Dafu had already фактически left the Creation Society. After the failure of the Great Revolution, Pan Hanian no longer participated in the specific activities of the Creation Society. Although, for various reasons, they reunited under the banner of the Zuo Lian, the gaps that had already formed could not be completely erased, and the former conflicts and entanglements were also brought into the Zuo Lian. The factors that originally led them to leave the Creation Society once again pushed them to leave the Zuo Lian (in reality, they were expelled). Of course, due to changes in time, environment, and political factors, the specific manifestations of their reasons for leaving varied greatly. However, regardless of how great the differences were, if one reflects on the members who left the Zuo Lian, it becomes clear that the conflicts and entanglements continued. In April 1931, Zhou Quanping was expelled from the Zuo Lian. In August, Ye Lingfeng and Zhou Yuying were expelled. In October, Jiang Guangci withdrew from the Zuo Lian and was expelled from the Communist Party. On November 16, Yu Dafu was expelled from the Zuo Lian. The activities surrounding the Zuo Lian, to some extent, also determined the later life paths of each individual. In July 1937, Guo Moruo, who had lived in Japan for over ten years, returned to China and was appointed as the Director of the Third Department of the Political Department of the National Government. Under Guo Moruo's leadership, many associates of the Creation Society gathered again: Yu Dafu, Tian Han, Feng Naiqiao, Ni Yide, Yang Hansheng, and others all worked in various departments of the Third Department. According to Yao Nan's, Yu Dafu "had discussed with Mr. Guo Moruo in 1938 about reviving the Creation Society, initially planning to publish a literary magazine. Mr. Dafu hoped that this plan could be realized in Singapore, and later, in June 1, 1939, the Xingzhou Literature was indeed founded, combined with the Xingzhou Daily Monthly. In the Preliminary Statement, he explicitly stated this point. The magazine invited Mr. Guo to write the title, which also implied the collaboration between the two in reviving the Creation Society." The proposal to revive the society naturally had a close connection with the reunion of the Creation Society associates. As a literary society, the Creation Society had long dispersed, and the revival was merely a pipe dream. Yet, the once glorious literary activities of the society had left an unbroken thread of Creation Society sentiment in the hearts of the scattered associates, giving the "dead Creation Society" a "natural cohesion," as one young associate of the Creation Society once said: "The members of the Creation Society are scattered across the country, each a fighter. Some may say that someone has aged or become decadent, but even if we call this aging and decadence, their vitality is still beyond the reach of ordinary people." Shi Zhan, who seemed very familiar with the inner workings of the Creation Society, once recorded in detail the "fates" of the Creation Society associates in the 1940s. "As for the current fate of the writers of the Creation Society, according to my knowledge, apart from Wang Duqing dying of illness, Hong Lingfei dying for the country, Peng Kang, Zhu Jingwo, and Zhou Quanping being unknown, Cheng Fangwu and Pan Hanian were in Red Capital Yan'an, Guo Moruo, Feng Naiqiao, Huang Yamen, Li Chuli, Hua Han, Shen Qiyu, and Lin Boshou were in Chongqing and Guilin, Zhang Ziping, Tao Jingsun, Zhou Yuying, Gong Binlu, and Qiu Yun duo had participated in and operated, Yu Dafu fled to Southeast Asia, Ye Lingfeng was stranded in Hong Kong, Zheng Boqi was in Xi'an, and Mu Mutian was in Kunming. The scattered and scattered, just mentioning them is enough to evoke a sense of life's vicissitudes!" Except for Hong Lingfei and Lin Boshou, who were not members of the Creation Society, the "fates" of the other associates generally corresponded to the actual situation. Additionally, Jing Yinyu drowned himself in the sea in 1929, Jiang Guangci died of illness in 1931, Li Chuli and Wang Xuewen went to Yan'an in 1937, Shen Xilin died of illness in 1940, and Zhu Jingwo heroically sacrificed in the Southern Anhui Incident in 1941. The vast differences in the circumstances of the Creation Society associates and the diverse choices in their lives were rarely seen in modern literary societies. P278-279