From “Thoughts on March 8” to “Gap” and “The Sufferings of Liping”: Mate Selection and Marriage in Three Works by Yan’an Authors

During China’s war with Japan from 1937 to 1945, the Communist-controlled border regions in north China saw an influx of progressive, patriotic youth from other parts of the country, bringing these new arrivals into contact with officials and army officers in the Communist power structure. Marriage was one potential outcome of such interactions, but while offering certain advantages it was often seen as problematic, with questions raised about the motives and methods of the parties involved. Given its sensitive nature, the subject of mate choice could only briefly be explored in literary works before an ideological clampdown was imposed in the late spring and summer of 1942. This article examines the key works that addressed the issue at the time and details the criticisms that followed their publication. It begins with a close reading of the relevant passage in “Sanbajie you gan” (Thoughts on March 8), the famous essay by Ding Ling (1904-86), and goes on to consider two stories by younger Yan’an authors, Ma Jia (1910-2004) and Mo Ye (1918-86), who broached the topics of mate choice and marriage shortly before and after Ding Ling wrote her essay. Together these works, published during the relatively liberal period leading up to the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art, reveal some critical fault lines within the revolutionary coalition. To this article is appended a full translation of Mo Ye’s story “Liping de fannao” (The sufferings of Liping), which vividly depicts a young woman’s struggle to reconcile her choice of marriage partner with her self-image as a progressive woman.