Chinese 503 (OSU)

Ding Ling

Biography (1904-1986)

1. Early life:

-born in Hunan 1904
-father died when young; highly influenced by strong mother with democratic ideals
-mother left family with two children, went to Changsha to study and eventually became a teacher
-Ding Ling shows early tendency toward iconoclasm (cut hair, led demonstrations, taught to the poor, tries life as an actress),


2. Modern schooling in Shanghai

-1921 enters Pingmin nuxiao run by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao (Shanghai)
-1922 Shanghai University Chinese Dep't


3. Peking (1923-29)

-early creative period "Meng Ke" (1927) "Diary of Miss Sophia" (1928)
-1928 with Shen Congwen, Hu Yepin organizes Red and Black Society (Honghei she)


4. Shanghai (1930-33)

-radicalization of literary theme "Shanghai, 1930" (1930); theme of love and revolution
-"Water" (Shui; 1931) shows concern for countryside
-1933 Hu Yepin, Ding Ling's husband, killed (one of the five martyrs with Rou Shi)


5. House arrest Nanjing (1933-36)

-by KMT
-circumstances surrounding her escape are obscure


6. Yanan (1936-49)

-1940 "When I Was in Hsia Village"
-early forties published articles critical of party (ie. treatment of women)
-helped provoke Yanan talks and Rectification Campaign
-1946-48 participates in land reform movement
-writes in 1948 The Sun Shines on the Sungari River (Taiyang zhao zai Sanggan he shang) (wins second place Stalin Prize in 1951)


7. PRC political troubles

-1957 Anti-rightist Campaign (equated Ding Ling and Sophie; accused of selling self to KMT to secure release; "In the Hospital" criticized for individualism; preoccupation with sex)
-non entity until after the end of the Cultural Revolution


8. Rectification

-in 1981, her status restored and she resumed her writing

Creative Development

1.subjective period (1927-30)

-e.g. "Diary of Miss Sophia"


2. "love and revolution" period (1930-33)

-characters reject love for committment to rev.
-drops first-person narrative


3. revolutionary writings

-e.g. "When I Was in Hsia Village"

"When I Was in Hsia Village"

Introduction

a.writing

-example of Ding Ling's National Resistance Literature
-not based on her own experience (but it has the feel of reportage), based on a story she heard secondhand


b.reception

-this story was criticized during the campaign against Ding Ling in 1957
-critics saw Chen-chen as a traitor who gave into the enemy by marrying a Jap and capitulating to the enemy


c.as propaganda?

-yes, on one hand; the cliche wartime narrative used the rape of women as a symbol of the Japanese rape of China during the war
-but much more, for Ding Ling is actually questionning this use of women

Questions to ponder:

1. In what ways is this a fairly conventional wartime work of literature produced under the CCP domain in Yan'an?

2. In what ways would this story be considered offensive to the CCP?

3. what about the portrayal of the party cadres and how they "use" Chen-chen? (Use of the female body)

4. how does the story show Ding Ling's continuing concern for feminist issues in the Yan'an period?

5. How does the "first person" narrative help to convey this