Mao Dun

Independent activity Marxism–Leninism 1896.7.4.–1981.3.27. ○ Died of illness

Author of Midnight and first Minister of Culture of the People's Republic

Born Shen Dehong, courtesy name Yanbing, in Wuzhen, Zhejiang, he worked at the Commercial Press in Shanghai and from 1920 edited and reformed the Short Story Monthly. That year he joined the Shanghai Communist group, later serving as a party liaison. He left the party on his own in 1927 and began his first fiction, the Eclipse trilogy; fleeing to Japan in 1928 he lost contact with it. Back in 1930, he joined the League of Left-Wing Writers and in 1932 finished Midnight. He was the first Minister of Culture from 1949 to 1965. His party membership was restored after his death in 1981. The Mao Dun Prize bears his name.

Also known as: Shen Yanbing · Shen Dehong