This volume is the first serious attempt to reconstruct Ding Ling's biography during the last few decades of her life. Most Westerners know her as a progressive woman writer who became famous during the May 4 Movement, championed its values in Yan'an and was criticized in the rectification campaigns that followed. Few know about her life afterward and the arduous process of rehabilitation. Here for the first time readers will learn about her life in the Great Northern Wasteland, solitary confinement in Qincheng prison, her visit to the United States, participation in the spiritual pollution campaign, and finally, the attempt to launch the journal China. All of this puts a new perspective on the life of one of China's most preeminent woman writers. Alber includes considerable new information about the rectification campaigns of the late fifties, supplemented by a series of interviews with the author and her contemporaries in the years 1980 and 1981, the very point when she began to turn "left" and to compromise her progressive beliefs. Ding Ling is generally acknowledged as a major figure of the May 4 Movement and an ardent admirer of Lu Xun. As such, the study sheds light on the legacy of China's greatest writer and the influence of Western ideals on contemporary Chinese literature. The primary audience is the educated reader who has an interest in contemporary Chinese literature and politics. It should be especially interesting to women, but the coverage is broad enough to include anyone interested in the intellectual history of China.

An anarchist by temperament, the beautiful and talented Ding Ling attempted to find her way in the world alone. She had a few female friends and a few significant male others, but she rebelled against her family. Most importantly, she rebelled against the Chinese Communist Party to which she desperately hoped to belong. The first part of a comprehensive biography of the major 20th century Chinese author, Ding Ling, this work draws not only on her memoirs, but on numerous secondary sources, many of which have become available only in the last two decades.

Though born into a wealthy family, Jiang Bingzi was raised by her mother after the untimely death of her father. She went to school in the May 4 era, when protest was in the air, the radical ideas of Mao were already in print, and her idol, Lu Xun, was making his literary mark. In her late teens she renounced her engagement, changed her name, and fled to Shanghai where she embraced the anarchist movement. The loss of her brother and lifelong friend, Wang Jianhong, and the loss of her significant other, Hu Yepin, all threw her into various states of depression, not to mention her own abduction by the Guomindang.

Nevertheless, Ding Ling wrote her way out of despair and into the public limelight. Her first collection of short stories, "In the Darkness, " made her famous because of its profound grasp of feminine psychology and its daring treatment of human sexuality. But when Ding Ling attempted to dispel the darkness in Yan'an, she, like everyone else, was told by Mao in his famous "Talks" to focus on the light. Ding Ling made all the necessary adjustments, literary and political. She survived the rectification campaign and mastered proletarian fiction. Mao loved her novel "The Sun Shines on the Sanggan" so much that he ranked her third among contemporaries. Soon, she was traveling to Eastern Europe and to Moscow where she consulted with Soviet notables. With the founding of the People's Republic, it appeared her star was on the rise. This study of Ding Ling and China's literary environment in the first half of the 20th century will be useful to scholars and students of contemporary Chinese history, literature, and women's studies.

Originally published in 1980, Alber's translation of Semanov's study aimed to contribute to the studies of Chinese literature and the knowledge of Lu Hsun's work to an English-speaking reader. Lu Hsun was an influential democrat and humanist in early twentieth Century China and his work had a great influence on literature in China. Semanov therefore attempted to place his life and work in the context of his literary predecessors as well as commenting on his world view, his teaching and place in history. This title will be of interest to students of Asian studies and Literature.

Originally published in 1980, Alber's translation of Semanov's study aimed to contribute to the studies of Chinese literature and the knowledge of Lu Hsun's work to an English-speaking reader. Lu Hsun was an influential democrat and humanist in early twentieth Century China and his work had a great influence on literature in China. Semanov therefore attempted to place his life and work in the context of his literary predecessors as well as commenting on his world view, his teaching and place in history. This title will be of interest to students of Asian studies and Literature.