Mei Zhi (22 June 1914 – 8 October 2004) was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

children's author Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

and essayist.

Biography

Mei Zhi was born in

Nanchang Nanchang (, ; ) is the capital of Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into h ...

, the eldest daughter of three children. Mei joined the

League of Left-Wing Writers __NOTOC__ The League of Left-Wing Writers (), commonly abbreviated as the Zuolian in Chinese, was an organization of writers formed in Shanghai, China, on 2 March 1930, at the instigation of the Chinese Communist Party and the influence of the cel ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

in 1932. She met another member of this group,

Hu Feng Hu Feng (, November 2, 1902 – June 8, 1985) was a Chinese Marxist writer, poet and literary theorist. He was a prominent member of the League of Left-Wing Writers. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Hu Feng became a membe ...

, in 1933 when he returned after being deported from Japan and the two married at the end of the year. The two lived in

, where their home became a meeting place for other members of the League of Left-Wing Writers. Mei published her first volume in 1934 titled ''Shoushang zhi ye''(). During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Thea ...

, Mei moved with her family first to

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city a ...

, then to

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Cou ...

. Whilst they moved, Hu increased the number of publications of his literary magazine ''Qi Yue'' (), which Mei copy-edited. Mei also edited the magazine ''Xiwang'' (). In 1941, Mei fled with her family to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, which soon fell to the Japanese, after which they went to

Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively romanized as Kweilin) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the n ...

. By 1946, the family reached

, where Mei stayed with their three children until 1949.

Arrest

In May 1955, both Mei and Hu were arrested for

counter-revolutionary A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revolut ...

activities. Mei's alleged crime was that she had transcribed Hu's book ''Sanshi fangyan'' (). She was released in 1961 after the death of her mother, but was only permitted to visit Hu in prison in 1965. Hu was released in late 1965 and was sent to live in

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese provin ...

in early 1966, accompanied by Mei, under surveillance by the Sichuan Municipal Public Security Department. In August, with the onset of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated go ...

, the two were taken to a prison camp that produced tea in

Lushan County, Sichuan Lushan County () is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of Ya'an city. Historical Monuments An ancient monument, located in Lushan County and dating to 205 AD of the Eastern Han Dynasty, is the remains of the mausol ...

. Later, Hu was imprisoned, and frequently fell ill, thus Mei was taken to the prison at

Dazhou Dazhou () is a prefecture-level city in the northeast corner of Sichuan province, China, bordering Shaanxi to the north and Chongqing to the east and south. As of 2020 census, Dazhou was home to 5,385,422 inhabitants whom 1,850,869 lived in the ...

and made to nurse him.

Rehabilitation

In 1979, Mei was rehabilitated and allowed to return to

. In 1980, Mei was given official permission to take Hu to

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, in order to help his increasingly serious

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

. Hu died in 1985, after which Mei wrote several

memoirs A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobio ...

detailing his experiences in prison. Mei joined the

China Writers Association China Writers Association or Chinese Writers Association (CWA, ) is a subordinate people's organization of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC). Founded in July 1949, the organization was initially named the China National Lit ...

in 1982.

Written works

Children's literature

* * *

Memoirs

* * * * *

Legacy

Mei was portrayed by

Yuan Quan Yuan Quan (, born 16 October 1977), also known as Yolanda Yuan, is a Chinese actress and singer. She graduated from the Central Academy of Drama where she majored in drama. Career Yuan starred in her first film '' Rhapsody of Spring'' (1998), ...

in the 2014 film

The Golden Era ''The Golden Era'' was a 19th-century San Francisco newspaper. The publication featured the writing of f.e.g. Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard (writing at first as "Pip Pepperpod"), Fitz Hugh Ludlow, Adah Isaacs Menken, Ada Clare, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mei, Zhi 1914 births 2004 deaths People from Nanchang Republic of China writers Republic of China essayists 20th-century Chinese women writers 20th-century Chinese writers Writers from Jiangxi 20th-century essayists