Ding Ling (1904–1986) was a Chinese writer whose career spanned the turbulent first half of the twentieth century and much of the Communist era. Writing in Chinese, she matters because she combined a sharp interest in the situation of women with a commitment to the left, and because her life shows the constraints that revolutionary politics placed on writers.
Born into a gentry family in Linli, Hunan, she lost her father while still a child and was raised largely by her mother, a teacher whom she later regarded as a model. At seventeen, after a clash with her family over an arranged marriage, she moved to Shanghai, where she studied at institutions linked to communism and came into contact with figures such as Qu Qiubai and Mao Dun. In Beijing she attended lectures given by Lu Xun.
Her first major success, Miss Sophie's Diary, appeared in 1927. It follows a young woman who candidly describes her dissatisfaction and her confused romantic feelings, and it caused a stir in literary circles. The execution of her companion Hu Yepin by Nationalist authorities in 1931 marked a turning point. Ding joined the Communist Party and her writing became more openly committed. In 1933 she was seized by the Nationalist government and held for several years in Nanjing; she escaped in 1936 and reached the communist areas of the north.
After the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 she became one of the best-known literary figures of the new state. In 1951 she received the Stalin Prize for The Sun Shines over the Sanggan River, a socialist realist novel about land reform. Loyalty to the party did not shield her from ideological campaigns, however. In 1957 she was branded a rightist, expelled from the party and sent to labour in the countryside; during the Cultural Revolution she was imprisoned for years. After Deng Xiaoping came to power she was rehabilitated and regained a prominent place in Chinese letters until her death.
Her legacy is twofold. She was among the first to address the condition of women in modern Chinese society with an independent and unsparing voice, and her biography illustrates how revolutionary commitment could become a trap for those who practised it. Her works have not been translated into Spanish, though some are available in English.
Key works
- Miss Sophie's Diary (1927): a diary-form novel about a young woman voicing her disillusion and romantic conflicts, an early exploration of female sexuality in modern Chinese fiction.
- A Bullet Not Fired (1937): a story about a young communist sentenced to death who asks to be killed with a knife so the bullet can be saved for the fight against Japan.
- The Sun Shines over the Sanggan River (1948): a socialist realist novel set during land reform, awarded the Stalin Prize in 1951.
Works in Filopedia
- Miss Sophia's Diary 1927
Curiosities
A Bullet Not Fired
In the story, a young communist asks to be executed with a knife so the bullet can be saved for the war against Japan, and his captors spare his life.
A note that followed her
During her captivity she wrote a note promising to stay out of politics; years later, the same note was used against her in party purges.
Original Filopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.