Mao Dun (Mao Tun) [real name Shen Dehong] 1896-1981

Celebrated as the leading realist writer of modern China, especially for his later works such as Ziye [Midnight], which are considered to represent an 'objective' reflection of Chinese society in the 1930s. Mao Dun was born in Zhejiang. As a child, he loved to read classical novels such as Xiyouji [Journey to the West]. A graduate of National Peking University, in 1916 was forced by straitened financial circumstances to take up a position at the Commerical Press in Shanghai. With the advent of the May Fourth Movement, he became interested in communism and was one of the Chinese Communist Party's earliest members. With Zheng Zhenduo and others, he founded the Wenxue yanjiu hui and in 1925 published an essay entitled "Lun wuchan jieji yishu" [On proletarian art]. In 1927, he completed the trilogy of novellas known collectively as Shi [Eclipse]. In 1930, he became involved with the League of Left-wing Writers. From 1949 until 1965 he served as Minister of Culture and wrote mostly speeches, reports etc. rather than fiction. His complete works are published by the Renmin wenxue chubanshe (1984).

Works available in English: