Chapter 10 The wrongful case of Ding Ling and Chen Qixia’s anti-party activities 1955

Journalist: “Isn’t Ding Ling a good lover of yours? Why did she turn against the Party all of a sudden?”

Mao: “Yes, Ding Ling was my favorite. She was the first famous female writer in modern China, Chen Qi Xia was a writer, secretary-general of the Literary Federation, who was criticized for engaging in an independent kingdom in 1955, and was branded by me as an anti-Party clique, and was dealt with, imprisoned and exiled from then on, until after my death, when she was rehabilitated.”

Journalist: “Oh, Ding Ling and Chen Qi Xia are a little independent, not quite listening to you?”

Mao: ‘It had a sense of independent and creative expression. In the 1920s, Ding Ling became famous for her work ‘The Diary of Sophia’. In the 1930s, she went to Yan’an and became my intimate companion, and I personally wrote poems to give her, discussing everything together. In 1951, I recommended her to write the epic novel ‘The Sun Shines over the Sanggan River’ about rural land reform, which won the Stalin Prize. In 1955-1956, for political reasons, I labeled Ding Ling as a member of a small anti-party group.”

Journalist: “You don’t like it is anti-Party?”

Mao: “Yes. In 1956 I branded her as an anti-Party, rightist, and sent her to prison for 20 years, where she suffered a lot. She was no longer my confidante in Yan’an, she was already in her early 50s, and I had a political need to destroy Ding Ling’s early image of freedom and independence, to stink her up, and to beat her up for being anti-party and imprisoned. In her early years, she joined the revolution with enthusiasm, and people commented that the revolution had eaten up her own children, and yes, Ding Ling was eaten up in this way.”

Journalist: “Oh, you want to completely destroy the free and brave image of Lady Sophia?”

Mao: “Yes, because that contradicts literature and art in the service of my politics. I recommended her to write The Sun Shines on the Sangquan River, which won the Stalin Prize, the highest honor given to her, the greatest reward. She also thanked me. She wrote ‘The Sun’ in compliance with my instructions, following my literary line and glorifying the rural revolution. Although her work won the Stalin Prize, it could not be compared with the infectious ‘Sophia Diary’ and could not leave a deep impact on readers.”

Journalist: “Is this how you ruined Ding Ling’s image of Sophia?”

Mao: “Yes, I think when she first arrived in Yan’an, I invited her to dinner and was so moved by her revolutionary enthusiasm and literary style that I wrote her a poem with my own handwriting. The poems I wrote to Ding Ling are still handed down to the public.

At that time Ding Ling often came to my cave and we talked about everything. Every time I came, I gave her a brush to copy my poems or the poems of others that I liked. Once I suddenly asked her, ‘Ding Ling, do you think our Yan’an now looks like a small, isolated court?’ Ding Ling replied, ‘I don’t think so, there are no civil and military officials!’ I said, ‘That’s easy!’ I immediately pushed the brush and paper in front of her and said, ‘Come on, you make a list first, and then I will seal the civil and military officials.’ Ding Ling did not open the list, but only reported the names of the people. It was a joke anyway. While I wrote the names, I wrote the official positions under the names of these people, this one is the imperial governor, that one is the minister of the Ministry of Justice, the minister of the Ministry of War, and the prime minister, the minister, and so on. After finishing this, I suddenly said to her: ‘Ding Ling, now the civil and military officials have, since it is a court, then no matter how big or small, there must be three palaces and six houses ah! Come on, you name some more names, I’ll give them.’ As soon as she heard this, she stood up and said, ‘I wouldn’t dare to do that! If Sister He Zizhen knows, she will definitely beat me up.’”

Journalist: “Oh, you want to seal the three palaces and six houses in front of Ding Ling, and she was scared? “

Mao: “Yes, it’s true that the three palaces and six houses in the kiln in Yan’an are too rustic. When we arrived in Beijing, it became true, although there is no shape of the three palaces and six houses, but all the cultural and industrial groups, singing and dancing groups, talented people, at your beck and call, more free and flexible. Jiang Qing separation put aside, lest she be jealous.”

Journalist: “Haha, you really will revolutionary creation ah, to Beijing, there is an invisible national mobile three palaces and six courtyards?”

Mao: “Yes, my three palaces and six courtyards, used and lost, leaving no trace, no one can catch. I remember when Ding Ling first arrived in Yan’an, I was extraordinarily excited to see her as a hometown, and I appreciated her so much that she was moved.

I said I like you as a hometown, and Yan’an needs you to increase your fame. You like to be a Red Army, I will give you a high military position. When the Red Army was her revolutionary passion, romantic feelings, she still had to write at her core. I know she could have continued to write and live comfortably in Shanghai and Beijing, but she came to Yan’an and suffered. I respected her so much that when Jiang Qing and I got married in 1938, I sent her a special invitation to attend the banquet. Unfortunately, she didn’t receive it because she was out of town. Outsiders say she boycotted Jiang Qing, but in fact she respected my decision.”

Journalist: “You married Jiang Qing in Yan’an, and you still kept Ding Ling?”

Mao: “Yes, I know she respects me. After the founding of the country, I even visited her in the Summer Palace, where she was writing at the time, and I rafted with her on Kunming Lake. She knew I was still thinking of her and was very touched.”

Journalist: “Oh, when you arrived in Beijing, you still rowed with Ding Ling in the Summer Palace?”

Mao: “Yes, but in 1956, after cleaning up Hu Feng, in order to further crack down on free and independent intellectuals, I decided to clean her up again because of her great influence, ‘Sophia Diary’, ‘March 8 Feeling’ can not break the root, the legacy of endless problems. I know her bones, can not do tame tools, does not fit my political needs, had to drive her out, make her stink. This way the intellectuals obeyed me. Originally she had surrendered to me and promised to review again, but I still could not spare her, I want to completely destroy the image of that Shafei.

I look at people to see the history, to see the root, she in the Yan’an period, the early days of the founding of the country, only temporarily for my use, expired, I have to go forward, can no longer love the old, had to abandon her.”

Journalist: “Oh, you are in stages of use, expire null and void?”

Mao: “Yes, until after my death, when Ding Ling came out in 1977 and returned to Beijing. I was in her mind, the tiger still existed, no matter what I did to her, she was in love. She was already in her 70s and had been tortured for 20 years, fortunately not as close to a mental breakdown as Hu Feng, but she had lost her sharpness and less intellectual brilliance, and although she had written a little bit in bits and pieces, she had no influence anymore. She can no longer move people, can not give readers new excitement, the old Sha Fei, has died.”

Journalist: “So, Safi is dead, but Ding Ling is still alive?”

Mao: “Yes, I want to let Safie die completely, to eliminate the free and independent personality, Safie is incompatible with my communism. Ding Ling wrote ‘Feeling on the 8th of March,’ lamenting that beautiful young revolutionary women, who became vases for the chief, were also incompatible with my imperial dictatorship and must be completely purged.
Ding Ling died in Beijing in 1986 at the age of 82 after a long illness. Chen Qi Xia was also rehabilitated and restored in 1979, and died of lung cancer in Beijing in 1988 at the age of 75. They died with their backs straightened and without influence, all tortured by me.”