Revolutionary Chinese Heroes and Role Models

in Childrens Literature

Aim and Purpose of Lecture

Analyse the construction and artistic representation of heroes and
role models in childrens literature in China in revolutionary periods
as strongly influenced by the political and cultural circumstances at
the time.

Heroes in Childrens Literature and Comics in the

1950s-1970s

Revolutionary Period Social Background

Writers during the Great Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) strictly follow the
guidelines of the Party and write for the masses and the Party, for politics and

for the proletariat revolutionary cause

From the second half of the year 1966, all the editing and publishing of

newspapers and books was suspended, with only a few newspapers operating
for the sole purpose of political propaganda.

Revolutionary Period Social Background

The two publishing houses for childrens literature, the Juvenile and Childrens
Publishing House in Shanghai and the China Juvenile and Childrens Publishing

House in Beijing, were prohibited from publishing books and journals.

In those years, only four journals for

children managed to survive: The Red
Scarf (published in Chongqing), Childrens
Literature (published in Beijing); The
Young Pioneers (published in Nanchang);
Childrens Literature and Arts (published
in Shanghai). All of these publishers were
very politically oriented, playing the role
of the Partys mouthpiece.

These politically oriented presses published stories created by those

revolutionary writers who did not suffer from this political storm and who were
instructed to produce revolutionary tales for children in order to train

revolutionary successors for the future communist cause.

From 1967 to 1969, there were only

two newspapers for children, The

Little Red Guards (Shanghai) and The

Red Guards Newspaper (Shanghai).

Politics Against School Learning of Knowledge

Due to the overwhelming political orientation,

childrens literature at that time did not pay

any attention to knowledge acculturation and

science education.
The slogan The more knowledge you have
the more reactionary you might be! became
so popular that school education was actually

ruined and discarded by the society.

Literature should be viewed as Part of the

entire revolutionary machine, and it should be a

powerful weapon in uniting people, educating

people and fighting against the enemy and in

helping people to make concerted efforts to

fight their enemies.

Mao Talks at the Yanan Forum on Literature and Arts

(1942)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm5fCJNMQWQ

During the Cultural Revolution, the Party and

government thought that the education of

children was even more important than that

of the adults, for if the young people took

the wrong road under the bourgeois

guideline, greater loss would be caused and

the future of the Republic endangered.

Revolutionary Childrens Literature

Literary works produced during the Cultural

Revolution were always politically oriented,

always firmly keeping in mind the class

struggle and struggle for the proletarian

revolutionary cause.

Many of the literary works published at the

time were modelled upon the so-called

"eight model plays"

Eight Model Plays

The "eight model plays" were the only operas and
ballets that were permitted during the Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution in China (1966-1976). Although they
were limited in number, there were in fact more than
eight. They all have communist or revolutionary themes.
These works were created under the patronage and
supervision of Jiang Qing, the wife of Mao Zedong, and
the purpose was clear: To serve the Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution.

Eight Model Plays and Children Literature

Following the paradigm and
principles of the eight Model
Peking Operas, writers created a
series of little heroes in various
forms of childrens literature.

They were strictly controlled,

monitored, and directed.

Chinese Ballet-The White Haired Girl (Model Opera)

The story was about Xi'er, the daughter of a
poor farmer. To pay the debt of the family,
she was sold to the despotic landlord
Huang Shiren. After suffering enough she
fled into the deep mountain. Living for
many years in the mountain without
adequate food, Xi'er's hair turned white
and she became known as the White Haired
Goddess by those who didn't know the
truth. Xi'er was rescued by the Eighth Route
Army and was fortunate enough to be
reunited with her lover Da Chun, who had
become a soldier of the Army.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjqkvVIb9SE

Features of Revolutionary Childrens Literature (1)

Political persecution was so prevalent that
the writers could not even write in

accordance with the principles of literary

creation or the mentality of children, but

had to follow the instructions of the Party

and government.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn5MbK74sqM

Features of Revolutionary Childrens Literature (2)

In the prevalent class struggles created in the
fictional world, they are coolheaded,

resourceful, quick on the trigger, precocious,

always having tremendous courage and
wisdom.
These young heroes always believe that only
by following the Party and Mao can they win
one victory after another.

Features of Revolutionary Childrens Literature (3)

Devoid of naivety and playfulness, the
young heroes in the stories of this period
all have adult-like strong will and sensitive

political consciousness.
Judging from their behaviour, thinking, and

language, they are as mature, determined,

and politically correct as any adult soldiers.

we should pay full attention to the class struggles in the

field of ideology and culture . . . We should write vigorously
the new revolutionary childrens songs and fight against the

bad works so that we could hold firmly in our hands the

battle front of childrens literature and arts.

Li Yi, Paying Attention to the Writing and Promoting of the New

Childrens Songs, Guangming Daily (2 Dec. 1973)

The young heroes in

these stories are

always brave and

resourceful, alert to
the enemies in
disguise.

Keep Your Eyes Open (Liu Xinwu, 1975)

Beijing: Beijing Peoples Publishing House
In this battle of fighting for the successors and occupying the

battlefield of ideology and culture, it has always been a situation of

tit-for-tat, diamond cut diamond! Without beating back the savage

attacks of such people like Zheng Chuanshan, how could we expect

to fulfill the task of solidifying our proletarian dictatorship?
Little hero Fang Qings mother asserted in Keep Your Eyes Open

 During this period, childrens

literature manifested a

distinctive political feature.

Childrens literature was
always closely connected
with the political situations
and trends.

Due to the prevailing

political situation, childrens
literature during the
Cultural Revolution could
only produce stereotyped
characters, heroes, and role
models.

Subject matters of Revolutionary Childrens literature

The subject matters of childrens literature were to always reflect
the current state affairs and important national events, such as

the Criticism of Liu Shaoqis Revisionism, Criticism of Lin Biao

and Confucius, and Criticizing Deng Xiaoping and Beating Back

the Right Deviationist Trend.

Themes and Topics

The themes were always the

struggles between the little

heroes and the class
enemies, and the little heroes
always won in the end after
numerous difficulties, dangers,
and fights.

The settings of the stories were either the war times (such as The
Little Hero Behind the Enemy Lines by Bian Zizheng and The Little

Mountain Eagle by He Zhi) or after the founding of the Republic in

1949 (such as The Story of Xiangyang Yard, Keep Your Eyes Open).

Stories published during that time, such as The Story of the Little Red Guard
Criticizing Lin Biao and Confucius (by Wu Daerhan, 1974), The Little Eagles on

the Prairie (by Wu Xueyun, 1974), and Hongyu (by Yang Xiao, 1973), were all
about the struggles between little heroes and the class enemies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-9ijGu5NLo

 Under the guidance of the

principle of three highlights,
even the young heroes are always
correct without any mistakes.
In struggling against adult
enemies, they are surprisingly
wiser and more courageous.

Three Highlights ()
The highlight of the positive characters of all characters

The highlight of the heroic characters among all positive characters

The highlight of the main hero among all heroic characters

 The principle of three highlights was conceptualised and mandated by

Jiang Qing, Maos wife and her followers.

Three highlights was the guiding principle for all artworks during the
Great Cultural Revolution.

Political Censorship
In creating these literary works, the first important thing is to educate

children with revolutionary work with politically correct themes and

highlighted characterization.

If these factors did not meet these demands, the writers would be
instructed to make revisions until the work was politically correct and
ideologically revolutionary.

The Sparkling Red Star (1972)

The only exception among these literary
works was The Sparkling Red Star (1972)

by Li Xintian, one of the most popular

pieces even during the late period of the

Cultural Revolution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1QhtJ-9t4E

The Sparkling Red Star (1972)

It was originally written during the
first half of the 1960s, after strict
examination and several revisions, it
was finally able to see the daylight in
the early 1970s when the political
situation and literary atmosphere
were a little less stressed.

Popularity of The Sparkling Red Star (1972)

After a long period of literary famine during the Cultural Revolution, the

publication of this novel, which was described as a shining shooting star

piercing through the darkness of loneliness and a timely sweet shower

after a great drought became an immediate success and was frantically

welcomed by the younger generation.

The Sparkling Red Star (1972)

Unlike most of the literary works during
that time, the description of the little
hero Pan Dongzi is largely in accordance
with the normal development of
children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZnXQqTPB5Y

The Sparkling Red Star (1972)

Dongzi is crude and rash as a kid
when his mother was burned to
death by Hu Hansan, the local
despot, and he was forced to

leave his hometown for life.

The Sparkling Red Star (1972)

Dongzi grows up to be a mature

revolutionary soldier only after

going through numerous
setbacks and dangers and

making reasonable mistakes.

The Sparkling Red Star (1972)

With its dramatic stories and

vivid childrens language, the

novel immediately became the
favorite of all children, and even
adults, of that age, and soon was
adapted to an equally successful
movie.

Much effort was put into imbue the film with

fighting spirit as well as entertaining

enjoyment.
A typical example is that the then-popular

PLA tenor Li Shuangjiang sang the theme

song Going Fighting with the Red Star over

Me (Hongxing zhao wo qu zhandou).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gISJzudLYcw

Even within this exceptional novel, it is still

not at all difficult to find sentences with
political contents bearing the brand of the
time.
Childrens life is filled with political and
military struggles like making the
revolution, fighting the local tyrants, and
distributing the land.

The childrens rhymes were also

charged with political contents and
political leaders such as
Commissioner Mao, leading the
workers and peasants to start a
revolution, and the wretched
peoples deliverance and liberation.

Zhang Ga the Little Soldier (1962)

Largely due to the theme of the War of
Resistance against Japan (Second Sino-

Japanese War) and the eulogy of a

heroic spirit which finds particular

embodiment in its hero, Zhang Ga,

this short novella became extremely

popular once it was screened before

the Cultural Revolution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amHIjKoX5AY

Zhang Ga the Little Soldier (1962)

The film was most welcome among
the broad audience of children as well
as adults during the Cultural
Revolution. After the Cultural
Revolution, the revised edition of the
novella was published again in 1978,
from which a TV series was adapted in
the 1990s.

Collective Authorship
Many literary works produced during

the Cultural Revolution were published

in the name of collective authors, such
as a writing group or an invented pen
name, or anonymously. As a result of
endless revisions and rewritings, the

original single authors were

overshadowed or even totally

disappeared.

Collective Authorship
The purpose of collective

authorship was to emphasize

the collectivity of literary

creation and to reduce the

impression of individual heroism.

Collective Authorship and Children Literature

Influenced by adults literature, some works of
childrens literature, especially poems and

childrens songs, were also published in the

name of collectivity, such as little writing
group, Red Guard literary writing group,
Red Scarf writing group, or simply certain
primary/secondary schools.

In the literary works, collective heroism always

found embodiment in individual heroes or
heroines. Popular story protagonists like Fang
Qi in Keep Your Eyes Open (1975), Hai Wa in
The Letter with Feathers (1972), Yu Lai in Yu
Lai the Little Hero (1972), and Gua Gua in
Guarding the Melons (1974) are
unexceptionally portrayed as courageous and
resourceful, always alert to the class enemies,
whether they are obvious or hidden.

Construction of Revolutionary Little Heroes

Considering their mature mentality and class
consciousness, these heroes are more like adult

revolutionaries than normal children their age.

They are good at organizing revolutionary

struggles and tolerant to their comrades, but

they are nevertheless individualistic heroes who

are able to undertake various dangerous tasks

independently and to stand out alone.

Construction of Revolutionary Little Heroes

Their adult-like behaviors and remarks
make them very different from other
children in the stories.
They are deliberately setting the
example for all the children to follow.
The function of education in a literary

work is more important than that of

entertainment.

In 1979, three years after the Cultural Revolution, a writer of childrens

literature still asserted that when we write for children, we must not rely on
our own interests. We can never write for the sake of writing. Instead, we
should insist on putting proletarian politics in command and take up our pens
for training and educating our adamant revolutionary successors, who would
be developed in an all-around way, morally, intellectually, and physically.
Han Zuoli, Organize the Writers Team Well and Make Childrens Literature
Prosper, in Childrens Literature Studies, 2nd ed. (Shanghai: Juvenile and
Childrens Publishing House, 1979)