Wang Shiwei


Wang Shiwei was a Chinese journalist and literary writer. He became famous for his contribution to the Chinese history of modern revolution and to Chinese modern literature. Wang joined the Communist Party of China in 1926, but later wrote critically of some aspects of the revolution. Under order from Mao Zedong, he was expelled from the party, and executed in 1947.

Biography

Family

Wang Shiwei, originally named Wang Sidao, was born in Guangzhou in Henan Province, China on March 12, 1906. His courtesy name was Shuhan. His father was a scholar who worked as a teacher in a local school. Wang was the third eldest child in a family of eight brothers and sisters. His father's income as a teacher was not sufficient to sustain the large family.

Education

Wang received his initial education in Chinese classics from his father, which began the development of his knowledge of Chinese literature. In 1914, he entered Huangchuan Second Higher Primary school for primary three education. Later, he went to Henan Seventh Secondary School located in Huangchuan. He eventually left his hometown and entered the Fundamental School of Europe. He was forced to leave this school a year later, as his family could no longer afford the costly fees. Determined to further his studies, he worked in a post office to save money; at the age of 17, he joined the American Exchange Studies program in Henan Province.
In 1925, Wang got a chance to study Arts at Peking University. There he actively participated in the University's student campaigns. However, he was once again forced to quit in 1927, but was again able to start studying during the late 1920s and early 1930s, this time at the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow.

Involvement in politics

Wang was an active participant in political activity. In 1919, Wang and his classmates joined the May Fourth Movement demonstrations in support of Beijing students. Entering Beijing University in 1925, he participated in student politics and joined the Communist Party of China in 1926. Leaving a year later, for the criticism of his love affair with Li Fen, who was also a communist member. However, he rejoined the party when Mao Zedong became the chairman. During his studies in Moscow, Wang formed the Twenty-Eight Bolsheviks together with other Chinese students such as Wang Ming and Ding Ling.

Execution

By 1942, Wang was working for the Liberation Daily where he wrote the essay "Wild Lilies", criticizing Mao Zedong's taste for beautiful women, as well as what he called the unjustified privileges enjoyed by members of the Communist Party. It discussed the "ugliness and indifference" of Yan'an; also criticizing some "big men" in the CCP whom Wang thought were responsible for the "growth of darkness" in China.
The article caused him many woes. Mao's Talks at the Yan'an Forum in May laid down the official line, demanding that art serve politics. On 27 May 1942, the Central Committee held a seminar to discuss whether Wang was guilty. On 23 October, under the orders of Mao, Wang was expelled from the Communist Party on the charge that he was one of the "Five Member Anti-Party Gang" of Trotskyites who were alleged to have sought to take over the Chinese Communist Party, and that he was disrupting party unity.
Wang's defence was that he was not involved in any Trotskyist activities, except for helping his friends Wang Wenyuan and Chen Qingchen to translate two prose pieces in "Autobiography of Leon Trotsky", activities which he had already informed the Party of.
Wang's "trial," which took the form of a series of struggle sessions, ended in June 1942 with Wang found guilty and arrested.
On 1 July 1947, on the direct orders of Mao which were confirmed by the Social Section of the Communist Party in Shanxi-Suiyuan, Wang was reportedly chopped to pieces and his remains were thrown down a dry well.
Fifteen years later, in 1962, Mao said that Wang was an agent of the Guomindang, but that he shouldn't have been executed, and Mao claimed that the decision to kill Wang was made by local security organs, not the central leadership.
Dai Qing's seminal work in exhuming the case of the writer Wang Shiwei brings into focus perhaps the single most important case for gauging repressive dimensions of the movement.

Wang as a writer

Wang began writing at the age of 19, when he was studying at Beijing University. He took the pen name of "Shiwei", and his talent was greatly appreciated by Xu Zhimo, a contemporary Chinese poet. Xu often ran Wang's writings in the Features section of the Morning Post when he was editor-in-chief.
From 1930 onwards he started to use other pen names, still pronounced "Shiwei" but using different characters. His novella Xiuxi, talked about how young people should fight against the darkness of a country and was published in Xu Zhimo's "New Literary Collection" in 1930. His work outlined an "ideal society" where equality of opportunity was emphasized; he also incorporated some Marxist thought.

"Wild Lilies"

Wang attempted to demonstrate two basic elements of journalism in "Wild Lilies."
The first was that "its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience." An example used to illustrate this is how one day Wang overheard two girls criticizing the apparently inconsiderate behavior of senior leaders towards the public. He later wrote that he was shocked after overhearing the dialogue, and took note of it, later referring to it to make known his concern about the state of the country. He was supposed to have "finally realized" what was lacking in everybody's life at that time, and attempted to dig further to what was behind the complaints.
The second was that "it must provide a forum for public criticism." Wang explained that his piece of work was called "Wild Lilies" because wild lilies grew abundantly in Yan'an, could stand symbolically for the place and because they had higher medical value than other lilies, though they were bitter to taste, and in this connection criticized unhealthy phenomena in society so remedies could be found. This was also not so discreetly attempting to turn a remark from Mao Zedong on its head. Explaining the crackdown on freedom of expression, Mao said that the party's actions were "like that of a doctor curing a disease. The whole purpose is to save people, not to cure them to death." His work was criticised by others and between April and May 1942 "Wild Lilies" was attacked in the newspapers.

"Arrow and Target"

"Arrow and Target" was a wall poster newspaper series posted outside the southern gate of Yan'an City. Wang used the series to elaborate on the concept of journalism that "Its first loyalty is to citizens." Wang uses the spaces provided in the newspaper series to attack Luo Mai /Li Weihan, the director of the Central research Institute. He told every citizen that injustices were present. This act certainly destroyed the image of the institute. Instead of defending the institute, which he was quite closely connected with, in his column, he alleged to tell the citizens things that they wanted to know, things that were beneficial to them. He is loyal to citizens more than the business owners and advertisers. Therefore, Wang's first loyalty was to citizens.

Influence

Wang's works allowed readers, particularly those of Yan'an, to gain a better understanding of issues like the relationship between politics and literature. Partly as a reaction against the Chinese literature that focused too much on the rules of the Party in the 1940s, Wang's work alerted some to the fact that the education on the rules of the Communist Party were not practical. He was the first writer in Yan'an who gave a theoretical reflection on reality in his works; in his "Wild Lilies", for example, the bureaucracy and hierarchy of Yan'an were described in vivid detail.
"While it is tempting to characterize the trial of Wang Shiwei as an illustration of the fate awaiting free-thinking intellectuals in a repressive state, it is clear from the questions raised in the first session that the Wang Shiwei trial epitomizes the difficulty of voicing a minority opinion, especially when that opinion is pitted against a more powerful entity such as the state."
Apart from that, literature in that period emphasized on the skills of writing. There was little concern about the reality. Western literatures were very much appreciated. However, because of the successful and interesting reflection of reality in Wang's works, people started to appreciate Chinese literature. Many Chinese writers also began to write more about the reality, examining on the local arts and the Marxist ideas.
Wang's eagerness to voice out the inequalities and his critical mind contributed to his success as one of the most representative writers in the period. He also stimulated other writers to think about what they should write about from that onwards.

Timeline

Most of Wang's literary works remained unpublished until the late 20th century. His style of writing was described as "having the energy and power to enrich humanity".
His works reflected his sincerity and love towards his home country and native homeland. He felt compassion for the weak and oppressed in society. He had always hoped that he could change society through revolution, which is why his works were so critical.
Articles
Novels
Translations
Wang's many translations into Chinese include works by Karl Marx and Eugene O'Neill.