Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2009
When Chiang Kai-shek and his government retreated to the island of Taiwan after the loss of mainland China to the Communists in 1949, they submitted themselves to a high degree of soul-searching in order to determine the reasons for their defeat. One conclusion drawn from their reflections was that factional conflicts within the Guomindang, lack of discipline, and a decline in morale were as responsible, if not more responsible, for their overthrow than any superior military strength which the Communists might have come to possess. They judged also that they had lost the initiative in the political and psychological battle by countering the Communists' “unlimited war with limited war,” and by having too negative an attitude towards literature. During this evaluation of past performance the Guomindang felt no need to apologize for the imposition of censorship and oppressive publishing restrictions, nor for its suppression of those Left-wing writers who, since the expulsion of Communists from the Guomindang Government in 1927, had made a point of discrediting the Guomindang in the eyes of the people. These were considered to be necessary measures in the fight against Communism. What they did regret was not having used literature as the Communists had, thereby losing the battle for the minds of the people.
1. See Shieh, Milton J. T., The Kuomintang: Selected Historical Documents, 1894–1969 (St. John's University: Center of Asian Studies, 1970), p. 210.Google Scholar
2. Kai-shek, Chiang, A Summing-up at Seventy. Soviet Russia in China (London: George G. Harrap, 1957), p. 218.Google Scholar
3. See Xueman, Yin, Zhonghua minguo wenyi shi (A History of the Literature of Republican China) (Taibei: Zhengzhong shuju, 1975), p. 977.Google Scholar
4. See Hsü, Immanuel C. Y., The Rise of Modern China, 2nd ed. (New York, London: Oxford University Press, 1975), pp. 632–39.Google Scholar
5. See Hsia, C. T., A History of Modern Chinese Fiction, 1917–1957 (New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 1961), pp. 117, 124–25.Google Scholar
6. See Pinguang, Peng, “Xin wenyi yundong de huigu” (The New Literature Movement in Retrospect), in Zhongguo wenyi nianjian, 1966 (China Literature and Art Yearbook, 1966) (Taibei: Pingyuan chubanshe, 1966), p. 35Google Scholar; and, Zhuoxuan, Ren, “Wenyi zhengcelun” (On Literary Policy), in Wen tan (Literature Forum), No. 4 (05 1959), p. 6.Google Scholar
7. The Committee consisted of a team of 10 eminent scholars and artists, the most notable being the historian and educator, Luo Jialun; Zhang Qiyun from the Academia Sinica, and the Shakespearean scholar, Liang Shiqiu.
8. See Lancashire, E. M., Concord and Discord in the World of Literature in Taiwan.Google Scholar A Selective Study of Writers' Associations, Literary Movements, and Controversial Writers. Ph.D. dissertation, University of London, 1981, pp. 74–80, 81–85, 96–99.
9. Minsheng zhuyi yu le liangpian bushu. An English translation by Durham, S. F., Chen has been appended to Sun Yat-sen, The Three Principles of the People. San Min Chu I (Taibei: China Publishing Co., undated).
10. See The Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Vol. 3 (Peking, 1953).Google Scholar
11. Wenyi nianjian, p. 125.Google Scholar
12. See Zhaoqi, Zhang, “Jiang Zongtong de wenyi guan” (President Jiang's Views on Literature and the Arts), in Zhongguo zazhi (China) (Taibei: Zhongyang wenwu gongyingshe, 1976), pp. 75–79.Google Scholar
13. In May 1955, a third writers' association was formed, The Taiwan Women Writers' Association. See Lancashire, , Concord and Discord, pp. 121–28.Google Scholar
14. Ibid. pp. 387–91, and for a full translation of GMD policy statement, pp. 454–61.
15. See Jie, Zhang, “Wenyi wei shenme hui jinru dichao” (Why Has Literature Reached Such a Low Ebb?), in You shi wenyi (Young Lions' Literature), Vol. 15, No. 6 (01 1957), p. 3Google Scholar; and Fujian, Huang, “Wen tan de chu jiu bu xin”Google Scholar (On Replacement of the Old with the New in the Literary Forum), Ibid. Vol. 8, No. 1 (January 1958), p. 3.
16. See Chou, Shi, “Shi nian lai ziyou Zhongguo wenyi zuopin de jiantao” (An Analysis of the Literature of the Last Ten Years in Free China), in Wen tan, No. 6 (05 1960), p. 7.Google Scholar
17. Lau, Joseph S. M., “The concepts of time and reality in modern Chinese fiction,” in Tamkang Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (04 1973), p. 29.Google Scholar
18. Lucian, Wu, ed., Introduction, New Chinese Writing (Taibei: Heritage Press, 1962), p. viii.Google Scholar
19. See Lau, , “The concepts of time,” p. 29Google Scholar, and, Wen-li, Mei, “The intellectuals on Formosa,” The China Quarterly (07/09 1963), pp. 69–70.Google Scholar
20. In 1964 the Garrison Forces on Jinmen launched the “Wu wang zai Ju Movement” (Remember the Lesson of Ju) which coincided with the testing by China of her first atomic device. See Free China Review (01 1965), p. 69.Google Scholar In 1965 the Armed Forces' “New” Literature and Art Movement was initiated. This was meant to stimulate the writer in the armed forces to produce a literature that would be so dynamic it would inspire in the civilian writer the desire to write in a similar vein. See Wenyi nianjian, pp. 323 et seq.Google Scholar
21. See Tozer, W., “Taiwan's ‘Cultural Renaissance’: A Preliminary View,” The China Quarterly, No. 43 (07/09 1970), pp. 81–99.Google Scholar
22. See Bin, Yu, “Zhang Gong cuican wenhua. Women baowei wenhua”Google Scholar (The Chinese Communists Are Destroying Culture. We Are Defending It), in Zhonghua wenhua fuxing yundong (The Chinese Cultural Renaissance Movement), You shi wenhua shiye gongsi, (undated), p. 88.Google Scholar
23. Lei Zhen, the editor of Ziyou Zhongguo (Free China Fortnightly), dared in August 1957, to suggest in his editorial that the government should accept the fact that there was little likelihood of a return to the Chinese mainland and that consequently it should come to terms with being in Taiwan and improve conditions there. He persisted in expressing these views and associated with Taiwanese leaders advocating self-government on Taiwan. This led to Lei Zhen being arrested in September 1960, tried by court martial for sedition and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment.
24. See Guanhan, Sun, ed., Bo Yang he ta de yuanyu (Bo Yang and His Wrongful Imprisonment) (Hong Kong: Wenyi shuwu, 1974), pp. 14–26, 40–41.Google Scholar Hereafter cited as BYYY.
25. See Song, Han, “You yige zhengzhifan – Bo Yang shijian”Google Scholar (Yet Another Political Crime – The Bo Yang Affair), originally published in Diaoyu tai (Fisherman's Wharf), No. 63 (Chicago, 25 08 1972).Google Scholar Reprinted in BYYY, p. 237.Google Scholar
26. The San min zhuyi Youth Corps was established in 1938 by the Guomindang as an apparatus for recruiting and training Party workers.
27. See Yang, Bo, “Bo Yang de dabianshu. Bo Yang gei Taiwan sheng jingbei silingbu junshi fating de dapianshu (zhi yi)”Google Scholar (Bo Yang's Refutations. Refutation (No. 1) Sent by Bo Yang to the Military Court of the Taiwan Provincial Garrison Command), BYYY, p. 78.Google Scholar These Refutations will hereafter be cited as DBS, Nos. 1, 2, 3, etc. respectively. Sun Guanhan, the atomic scientist resident in the United States, managed to obtain 10 in all, but says the collection is not complete.
28. See “Taiwan de qisushu” (Taiwan versus Bo Yang), BYYY, p. 68.Google Scholar
29. See DBS, No. 5; BYYY, p. 135.Google Scholar
30. DBS, NO. 2; Byyy, p. 92.Google Scholar
31. See Guanhan, Sun, “Duancu he kunan de rensheng” (A short and hard life), originally written 8 08 1973Google Scholar; BYYY, pp. 332, 334.Google Scholar
32. DBS, No. 2; BYYY, p. 96.Google Scholar
33. Ibid.
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid. and Yang, Bo, “Bukeluan peng” (Don't strike out indiscriminately), in Guai ma ji (Monster Horse) (Hong Kong: Wenyi shuwu, 2nd ed., 1975), p. 181.Google Scholar In this essay, written 20 September 1962, Bo Yang again refers to this incident and expresses his disgust at the obsequiousness of certain Chinese towards foreigners.
36. DBS, No. 2; BYYY, pp. 96–97.Google Scholar
37. The Chinese Youth Anti-Communist National Salvation Corps, more popularly known as the China Youth Corps, was established by Jiang Jingguo in October 1952, in order “to mobilize and train young people for the move back to the mainland” (Area Handbook for the Republic of China (Washington: 1969), p. 119).Google Scholar
38. Sun Guanhan makes the observation that the very society which frowned upon Guo Yidong's divorce and remarriage seemed conveniently to have forgotten that Sun Yat-sen, Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek had had two wives. See BYYY, p. 335.Google Scholar
39. See Wenyi nianjian, pp. 425, 474.Google Scholar
40. DBS, No. 5; BYYY, pp. 135–36.Google Scholar
41. Yanmiao, Yu, “Zhandou wenyi jianbing – zawen” (The satirical essay – the lance of fighting literature), in You shi wenyi, Vol. 14, No. 4 (04 1962), p. 7.Google Scholar
42. See Song, Han, “You yige zhengzhifan,” p. 236.Google Scholar
43. See Guanhan, Sun, “Duancu he kunan de rensheng,” p. 330.Google Scholar
44. See Limin, Yao, “Jianjie Bo Yang de shengping he zhuzuo”Google Scholar (A brief introduction to the life and works of Bo Yang). The original was written in New York on 23 July 1973, and published in the September and October issues of Qishi niandai (The Seventies); BYYY, p. 287.Google Scholar
45. Yang, Bo, “Jia ‘gai’ laoyin” (Branded “Cover-up”), in Guai ma ji, p. 32.Google Scholar The original article was written 28 December 1960.
46. Ibid.
47. According to Bo Yang, the police saw themselves as “being sovereign, parent and teacher” (zuo zhi jun, zuo zhi chin, zuo zhi shi) to the people. If Confucius were to apply for recruitment into the Taiwan police force, Bo Yang said, he would probably be turned down since he had only merited one title: Teacher. See Limin, Yao, “Jianjie Bo Yang,” pp. 289–90.Google Scholar
48. Ibid. p. 264.
49. See Yang, Bo, “Chu guo renshengguan”Google Scholar (The philosophy of emigration), in Guai ma ji, p. 172.Google Scholar The original article was written 15 September 1962.
50. See Yang, Bo, “Gou Pang xiansheng” (Mr Gou Pang), in Si bu ren cuo (Stubborn to the End) (Hong Kong: Wenyi shuwu, 2nd ed., 1974), pp. 109–110Google Scholar; and Yang, Bo, “Yisheng chufang” (When doctors prescribe medicines), in Guai ma ji, pp. 167–69.Google Scholar
51. See Yang, Bo, “Xiandaihua wenti” (A question of modernization), in Xin xue lai chao ji (Brainstorm) (Hong Kong: Wenyi shuwu, 2nd ed., 1975), pp. 85–87.Google Scholar
52. Song, Han, “You yige zhengzhifan,” p. 236.Google Scholar
53. Ibid.
54. Shoichi, Saeki, “The Role of Western Literature in the Modernization of Japan,” in Thirty Years of Turmoil in Asian LiteratureGoogle Scholar, Lectures delivered at the Fourth Asian Writers' Conference, 25 April–2 May 1976, in Taibei and published by The Taibei Chinese Center, International P.E.N. (undated), p. 188.
55. See, for example, De Bary, W. T. et al. , Sources of Chinese Tradition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960), pp. 663 et seq.Google Scholar
56. Ibid. pp. 814 et seq.
57. For a brief summary of the modernization or westernization of literature in Taiwan see Introduction to Vols. 1 and 2 of An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Literature (Taiwan: 1949–1974. National Institute for Compilation and Translation, 1975).Google Scholar
58. See Shi, Hu, Ji, Li, Zushui, Mao, Hu Shi yu Zhong Xi wenhua, (Dr Hu Shi and the Chinese and Western Cultures), Xiandai qingnian congshu, No. 6 (Taibei: Shuiniu chubanshe, 1967), pp. 261–66.Google Scholar
59. See, for example, “Women duiyu xiyang jindai wenming de taidu” (Our attitude toward modern western civilization), in Hu Shi wencun (Collected Essays of Hu Shi), 4 vols. (Hong Kong: Yuandong tushu gongsi, 1962), Vol. 3, pp. 1–15.Google Scholar
60. Li Ao was born in Harbin in 1935, but received his primary education in Peking and part of his secondary schooling in Shanghai. After his arrival in Taiwan he continued his secondary education in Taizhong before entering National Taiwan University in Taibei where he studied law, history and literature. His work Wei Zhongguo sixiang quxiang qiu daan (In Search of an Answer to the Question as to Where Chinese Thought is Heading) had a great influence on young intellectuals who treated it as their Bible.
61. See Ao, Li, Wenhua lunzhan danhuo lu (A Record of the Ordeal of the Controversy on Culture), Wen xing congkan, 69, 2nd ed. (Hong Kong: 1972), p. 3.Google Scholar
62. See Wen-li, Mei, “The Intellectuals in Formosa,” p. 72.Google Scholar
63. Ao, Li, Wen hua lunzhan, p. 7.Google Scholar
64. Ibid. p. 39.
65. See Tozer, , “Taiwan's ‘Cultural Renaissance,’” p. 90.Google Scholar
66. See “Li Ao bei bu neimu” (The Inside Story of Li Ao's Arrest), in Nan bei ji, No. 12 (Hong Kong, 05 1971), pp. 45–47.Google Scholar
67. See Limin, Yao, “Jianjie Bo Yang,” pp. 293–94.Google Scholar
68. Yang, Bo, “Zhuyao chengfen” (An important ingredient), in Si bu rencuo ji, pp. 25–26.Google Scholar The original article was written 31 May 1967.
69. Ibid. p. 25.
70. See Yang, Bo, “Qingke zhi xia. Sheng si yizhi”Google Scholar (Life or death at the mercy of a cough), Ibid. pp. 35–37. The original article was written 6 June 1967.
71. See Yang, Bo, “Bi biaosao de zui”Google Scholar (My cousin's mouth) Ibid. p. 118. The original article was written 19 July 1967.
72. See Limin, Yao “Jianjie Bo Yang,” p. 314.Google Scholar
73. Ibid. p. 306.
74. DBS, No. 2; BYYY, p. 94.Google Scholar
75. Limin, Yao, “Jianjie Bo Yang,” p. 306.Google Scholar
76. Clear and Bright or Tomb-sweeping Day falls on 5 or 6 April. It is a festival during which people visit their ancestral tombs.
77. Yang, Bo, “Wanzheng de rensheng” (The perfect life), in Si bu rencuo ji, p. 96.Google Scholar
78. See Limin, Yao, “Jianjie Bo Yang,” p. 285.Google Scholar
79. DBS, No. 1; BYYY, p. 72.Google Scholar
80. The seven cartoon strips have been reprinted with some of Bo Yang's letters to Sun Guanhan, BYYY, pp. 5–26.Google Scholar
81. Ibid. pp. 23–26, and Limin, Yao, “Jianjie Bo Yang,” pp. 318–19.Google Scholar
82. Guanhan, Sun, “Ru yu shi de dagai” (An outline of events at the time of imprisonment), originally published in Renmt yu sixiang (Man and Ideas), Nos. 56, 57, 10, 11 1971Google Scholar; BYYY, p. 35.Google Scholar
83. Ibid.
84. Ai Mei wrote four letters in rapid succession, 6, 9, 14, 16 March to Sun Guanhan informing him of the disaster that had befallen the family. Ibid. pp. 28–33.
85. Sun Guanhan, born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, gained his Ph.D. in Pittsburgh, after which he took up permanent residence in the United States. Sun was one of the first physicists to measure the neutron and to determine the light emitted by the moon. He helped to establish the atomic research station in Qinghua University in Taiwan and was its head for one year. Sun had never met Bo Yang, but had read his works and had entered into correspondence with him around October 1965.
86. Sun made it his business to keep abreast of developments and subsequently to try to arrive at the truth after sifting through much conflicting material. How this material came into his possession, Sun does not venture to say. See Sun, “Duancu he kunan de rensheng,” pp. 331–32.
87. See Sun, , “Ru yu shi,” pp. 34–39.Google Scholar
88. See Guanhan, Sun, “Yingjiu de wuxiao. Jiang Jingguo xiansheng, qiu qiu ni, shifang Bo Yang xiansheng” (Rescue attempts are useless. I implore you, Mr Jiang Jingguo, to set Mr Bo Yang free), originally written 20 01 1969Google Scholar; BYYY, pp. 183–91.Google Scholar
89. Sun wrote to Jiang Jingguo on 17 June 1968, 20 January 1969 and 10 September 1971. Ibid. pp. 183–96.
90. See DBS, No. 1; BYYY, p. 75.Google Scholar
91. Ibid. pp. 73–74.
92. Ibid. p. 91.
93. DBS, No. 4; BYYY, p. 118.Google Scholar
94. Ibid.
95. Peng Mingmin, born in Taiwan in 1923, is a graduate of National Taiwan University and McGill University, Canada. He received his doctorate at the University of Paris. Peng specialized in space law and was at one time legal adviser to the Chinese Nationalist delegation at the United Nations. He was also Professor of Political Science, National Taiwan University. As one of the leaders of the Formosan Independence Movement, he was arrested in 1964 and charged with sedition. After imprisonment he was released on house-arrest, but managed to escape in 1970. He is now in the United States. See Ming-min, Peng, A Taste of Freedom (New York: Rinehart and Winston, 1972).Google Scholar
96. Ibid. p. 173.
97. See “Taiwan de qisushu”; BYYY, pp. 65–71.Google Scholar
98. See DBS, No. 1; BYYY, p. 77.Google Scholar
99. Ibid.
100. Ibid. p. 87.
101. The Principles of the People's Livelihood is the third part of Sun Yat-sen's political and social philosophy, The Three Principles of the People. It is concerned with the livelihood of the people; the existence of society; the welfare of the nation, and the life of the masses. It implies equalization of landownership and the regulation of capital.
102. See DBS, No. 5; BYYY, pp 142–43.Google Scholar
103. Ibid. p. 143.
104. DBS, No. 2; BYYY, p. 97.Google Scholar
105. Ibid.
106. DBS, No. 5; BYYY, p. 140.Google Scholar
107. Ibid.
108. DBS, No. 1; BYYY, p. 72.Google Scholar
109. Ibid. p. 88, and DBS, No. 10; BYYY, p. 173.Google Scholar
110. See Guanhan, Sun, “Ru yu shi,” p. 45Google Scholar; and, “Ruhe jiu Bo Yang” (How to save Bo Yang), originally published in C.U.C. Monthly, No. 7 (Pittsburgh, 9 August 1972), a news sheet brought out by Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh; BYYY, p. 250.Google Scholar
111. Guanhan, Sun, “Duancu he kunan de rensheng,” p. 335.Google Scholar
112. Guanhan, Sun, “Sun Guanhan fu Huang Sipin” (Sun Guanhan replies to Huang Sipin), published in Renwu yu sixiang, No. 57 (12 1971)Google Scholar; BYYY, p. 277.Google Scholar
113. Nan bei ji, No. 32 (01 1972)Google Scholar; BYYY, p. 232.Google Scholar
114. This is possibly a misprint and should read Zhang Changzong, one of the notorious brothers who rose to high rank under Empress Wu of the Tang dynasty (684–705).
115. Guanhan, Sun, “Ruhe jiu Bo Yang,” p. 248.Google Scholar
116. Han, Han, “Wo jiandao le Bo Yang (I have seen Bo Yang), in Nan bei ji, No. 49 (03 1978), p. 94.Google Scholar