classical Chinese tradition and works by foreign writers In

Last updated: 10/11/2023

classical Chinese tradition and works by foreign writers In the second half of 1954 after the Gao Gang Affair had been resolved a clash emerged between the Party and intellectuals involved in cultural and artistic matters In particular the clash revolved round two individuals Feng Xuefeng and Hu Feng The CCP leadership decided that a campaign against bourgeois idealism and individualism was needed in order to establish the Party view that the primary function of literature and art was to serve the revolution and the people rather than just expressing individual thoughts and feelings Feng was dismissed for having published an article by a literary historian whose views were condemned as being too individualistic Feng Xuefeng 1903 76 Feng was a poet literary theorist and translator and for a time was a spokesperson for the CCP In 1952 he became editor of the official literary and art magazine Wenyibao However his criticisms of the Party s attempts to enforce some political control over literature and art led to his dismissal for being a rightist He took part in the Hundred Flowers campaign in 1957 but was again accused of being a rightist and was sent for reform through labour His last years were spent doing manual labour during the Cultural Revolution Hu Feng 1902 85 Hu had been an early supporter of the CCP and had joined its Youth League as early as 1923 In 1933 he had joined the League of Left Wing Writers in Shanghai and by 1949 was an established writer and a respected literary and art critic However in the 1930s he had clashed with Zhou Yang who since 1949 had been vice minister for culture and the Party s propaganda commissar In 1955 Zhou Yang decided to attack him along with Feng Xuefeng Hu was imprisoned for his refusal to subordinate literature to Party views about socialist realism which identified the topics writers should deal with and how they should deal with them