Methods for Soliciting Manuscripts for
Page Four of Liberation Daily
September 20, 1942
Page 4 of Liberation Daily is short of articles, and because it lays stress on
literature and art, in addition to the manuscripts already contracted and those
directly solicited by the editorial department, the following comrades are
responsible for soliciting articles:
Comrade Huangmei:1 concentrate on literature, along with others, 12,000
words per month.
Comrade Jiang Feng:2 concentrate on the fine arts, along with others, 8,000
words per month; in addition, he can paint and draw.
Comrade Zhang Geng:3 concentrate on opera, along with others, 10,000 words
per month.
Comrade Ke Zhongping:4 concentrate on mass-ified5 literature, art, and
culture, along with others, 12,000 words per month.
Comrade Fan Wenlan: concentrate on history, along with others, 12,000 words
per month.
Comrade Deng Fa: concentrate on the labor movement, along with others,
8,000 words per month.
Comrade Peng Zhen: concentrate on Party building, along with others, 15,000
words per month.
Comrade Wang Zhenzhi:6 concentrate on opera, along with others, 5,000
words per month.
Comrade Feng Wenbin:7 concentrate on the youth movement and sports, along
with others, 12,000 words per month.
Comrade Ai Siqi: concentrate on culture and philosophy, along with others,

10,000 words per month.
Comrade Chen Boda: concentrate on politics, economics, and international
affairs, along with others, 12,000 words per month.
Comrade Zhou Yang: concentrate on literary criticism, along with others,
10,000 words per month.
Comrade Lu Ji:8 concentrate on music, along with others, 5,000 words per
month.
Comrade Cai Chang:9 concentrate on the women’s movement, along with
others, 5,000 words per month.
Comrade Dong Chuncai:10 concentrate on education, along with others, 8,000
words per month.
Mr. Wu:11 concentrate on Chinese language, along with others, 5,000 words per
month.
This comes to a total of 149,000 words.
2. These responsible comrades should select and correct these articles to
eliminate mistakes in thought, to make the language smooth, and to try to make
their style more popular [tongsuhua].
3. In principle, each piece should not exceed 4,000 words. Those that exceed
this limit will be exceptions.
4. If every person solicits articles totaling 12,000 words, they can be published
all at one time on page 4. But the editorial department may adjust the articles and
publish them over two or three days without using the name of the [page 4
literary] supplement.
5. If an article is not suitable for publication, the editorial department will
return it to the responsible person who solicited it to undertake revisions. If the
editorial department wants to make important corrections, it should contact and
discuss the matter with the solicitor of the article.

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--- Notes

1. Chen Huangmei (1913–1996) worked under Zhou Yang at the Lu Xun Academy.

2. Jiang Feng (1910–1982) was head of fine arts at the Lu Xun Academy. For brief information on him and
most of the literary intellectuals below, see David Holm, Art and Ideology in Revolutionary China (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1990), esp. pp. 46–47.

3. Zhang Geng (1911–2003) was a noted drama critic and advocate of folk drama and yang’ge under Zhou
Yang’s group at the Lu Xun Academy.

4. Ke Zhongping (1902–1964) was a poet noted for his “new style poetry” and was chair of the Preparatory
Committee for the third meeting of the Border Region Cultural Association.

5. Literally, dazhonghua. Can be translated as “popularized,” but this political term has a special meaning
for Mao and the Chinese Communist Party, drawing from Qu Qiubai’s literary theories in the 1930s; see
Holm, Art and Ideology, pp. 31–37.

6. Wang Zhenzhi, (b. 1916) was a dramatist at the Lu Xun Academy under Zhou Yang’s group.

7. Feng Wenbin, see above, note to “Letter to He Kaifeng on Press and Translation Questions,” text of
September 15, 1942.

8. Lu Ji (1909 2002), like Zhang Geng and Chen Huangmei, was part of Zhou Yang’s group at the Lu Xun
Academy; a music critic.

9. Cai Chang (1900–1990), wife of senior Party official Li Fuchun and in charge of the Central Committee’s
Women’s Department.

10. Dong Chuncai (1905–1990), an educator and prominent writer of a science book, went to Yan’an in
1937 and served in its Education Bureau.

11. That is, Wu Yuzhang (1878–1966), who was already a senior Party official active in leadership since the
1920s, having participated, for example, in the August 1 Nanchang Uprising of 1927 (see Vol. III, p. 26). From
1928 to 1937 he studied in Europe and the Soviet Union. By 1942 he was chair of the Border Region Cultural
Association, head of Yan’an University (1940), and head of the Lu Xun Academy. After 1949 he became
resident of People’s University.