A Historical Review of China's Left-wing Literature Movement and Its Contemporary Enlighten

The “Powerful Voice of the Times—Exhibition of Cultural Relics and Historical Materials of China’s Left-wing Cultural Movement” recently held by the Shanghai Lu Xun Memorial Hall has attracted widespread attention. The exhibition focuses on the documents of the League of Left-wing Writers (LWL) in the 1930s, and especially exhibits China’s first anti-Japanese short story “The Last Lesson” (Li Huiying, 1932). This work echoes the spirit of national salvation in Daudet’s novel of the same name through the story of female students’ struggle in the Japanese-occupied area. The LWL continued to create despite the suppression of the Kuomintang authorities. For example, Lu Xun risked writing for the “Special Issue in Memory of the War Dead” of “The Vanguard”, reflecting the tradition of “using the pen as a blade” for resistance. Contemporary scholars point out that this period of history has profound significance for understanding the relationship between literature and social responsibility.