Mao Dun
Shen Dehong (Shen Yanbing; 4 July 1896 – 27 March 1981), best known by the pen name of Mao Dun, was a Chinese novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright, literary and cultural critic. He was highly celebrated for his realist novels, including Midnight, which depicts life in cosmopolitan Shanghai. Mao was one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party and participated in a number of left-wing cultural movements during the 1920s and 1930s. He was the editor-in-chief of Fiction Monthly and helped lead the League of Left-Wing Writers. He formed a strong friendship with fellow left-wing Chinese author Lu Xun. From 1949 to 1965, Mao served as the first Minister of Culture in the People's Republic of China.
Mao Dun | |
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茅盾 | |
Mao Dun as pictured in The Most Recent Biographies of Chinese Dignitaries | |
| Minister of Culture of the PRC | |
| In office 21 October 1949 – January 1965 | |
| Premier | Zhou Enlai |
| Succeeded by | Lu Dingyi |
| Chairman of the China Writers Association | |
| In office 23 July 1949 – 27 March 1981 | |
| Succeeded by | Ba Jin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 July 1896 Tongxiang, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, Qing Empire |
| Died | 27 March 1981 (aged 84) Beijing, China |
| Spouse | Kong Dezhi (孔德沚) |
| Relations | Shen Zemin (brother) |
| Alma mater | Beijing University |
| Mao Dun | |||||||||
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| Chinese | 茅盾 | ||||||||
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| Shen Dehong | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 沈德鴻 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 沈德鸿 | ||||||||
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| Shen Yanbing | |||||||||
| Chinese | 沈雁冰 | ||||||||
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In addition to novels, Mao Dun published a number of essays, scripts, theories, short stories, and novellas. He was well known for translating Western literature, as he had gained academic knowledge of European literature from his studies at Peking University. Additionally, although he was not the first person in China to translate the works of Scottish historical novelist Walter Scott, he is considered to be the first person to popularize Walter Scott's work in China through his "Critical Biography".
He adopted the pen name "Mao Dun" (Chinese: 矛盾) to express the tension in the conflicting revolutionary ideology within China in the 1920s. The name means "contradiction", as Mao means spears and Dun means shields. His friend Ye Shengtao changed the first character from 矛 to 茅, which literally means "thatch".