1. "Zenyang bianzhi shibing tongsu duwu," KZWY 1.5 (21 May 1938): 34-36. The quotations that follow have been abridged from the same source. [BACK]

2. See Lao She, "Guanyu Wenxie," YZF 73 (16 August 1938): 38-40, esp. p. 39. [BACK]

3. See Lao She, "Wo zenyang xie tongsu wenyi," in Lao She quyi wenxuan (Beijing: Zhongguo quyi chubanshe, 1982), p. 33. [BACK]

4. Lao Xiang, "Tongsu wenyi gailun," in Lao She et al., Tongsu wenyi wujiang (Chongqing: Zhonghua wenyijie kangdi xiehui, 1939), p. 3. [BACK]

5. For a history of the Chinese folk literature movement, see Chang-tai Hung, Going to the People. [BACK]

6. See Margaret Spufford, Small Books and Pleasant Histories: Popular Fiction and Its Readership in Seventeenth-Century England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981); and Jeffrey Brooks, When Russia Learned to Read: Literacy and Popular Literature, 1861-1917 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985), esp. chap. 3. [BACK]

7. Wang Pingling, "Tongsu wenxue zai shangdui," Wenhua xianfeng 1.14 (1 December 1942): 3. [BACK]

8. Lao Xiang, "Tongsu wenyi de liliang," Wenhua xianfeng 1.14 (1 December 1942): 11. [BACK]

9. Zheng Boqi, "Xin tongsu wenxue lun," GM 2.8 (25 March 1937): 1268; see also idem, "Shenme shi xin de tongsu wenxue," Xin Zhonghua zazhi 5.7 (10 April 1937): 90. [BACK]

10. A Ying, "Shanghai shibian yu dazhong gequ," in Xiandai Zhongguo wenxue lun, ed. Qian Xingcun (Shanghai: Hezhong shudian, 1933), esp. pp. 145, 151, 159. [BACK]

11. Gu Jiegang, "Women zenyang xiezuo tongsu duwu," KZWY 2.8 (29 October 1938): 116-117. [BACK]

12. See Chang-tai Hung, Going to the People, esp. pp. 166-168. [BACK]

13. Gu Jiegang, "Women zenyang xiezuo tongsu duwu," pp. 116-117. [BACK]

14. Lao Xiang, "Tongsu wenyi de liliang." [BACK]

15. Lao Xiang, "Tongsu wenyi gailun," pp. 3-4. [BACK]

16. See Fang Bai, "Tongsu wenyi jiqiao tan," KZWY 4.2 (25 April 1939): 48-49. [BACK]

17. Other wartime intellectuals agreed with them; see, for example, Wen Zongshan, "Tongsu wenyi yu tongsu xiju," Wanxiang 2.5 (1 November 1942): 135. [BACK]

18. Lao Xiang, "Kangzhan sinian lai de minzhong duwu," Wenyi yuekan 11.7 (7 July 1941): 34-36. [BACK]

19. Gu Jiegang, "Women zenyang xiezuo tongsu duwu," p. 117. [BACK]

20. For a discussion of Lao She's works, see Ranbir Vohra, Lao She and the Chinese Revolution (Cambridge, Mass.: East Asian Research Center, Harvard University, 1974). [BACK]

21. Tian Qin, Zhongguo xiju yundong, p. 59. [BACK]

22. Lao She, "Xianhua wode qige huaju," Kangzhan wenyi xuankan 1 (April 1946): 26. [BACK]

23. See Li Ruiteng, ed., Kangzhan wenxue gaishuo, p. 99. [BACK]

24. See Lao She's preface and epilogue in Lao She and Song Zhidi, Guojia zhishang (Shanghai: Xinfeng chuban gongsi, 1945). [BACK]

25. See Li Ruiteng, ed., Kangzhan wenxue gaishuo, p. 59. [BACK]

26. See discussion in James Sheridan, Chinese Warlord: The Career of Feng Yu-hsiang (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974), pp. 86-89. [BACK]

27. During the war, Feng's poems appeared in a variety of magazines. See, for example, Kangzhan sanrikan 5 (3 September, 1937): 9; and Dikang sanrikan 13 (29 September 1937): 10. A collection of his wartime poems can be found in his Feng Yuxiang kangzhan shige xuan (Shanghai: Nuhou chubanshe, 1938). Feng wrote profusely during the war period. In Kang-Ri de weida minzhong (Guilin: Sanhu tushu yinshuashe, 1938), p. 1, he wrote: "In order for 'literature to go to the country' and 'literature to join the army,' we must take off our long gowns and mandarin jackets and change our clothes, so that we won't feel out of place with the villagers." [BACK]

28. For Feng's financial contributions and support to the association, see, for example, KZWY 1.3 (10 May 1938): 23; 3.7 (28 January 1939): 112; 4.1 (10 April 1939): 2. [BACK]

29. Feng Yuxiang helped to launch the magazine. He had close ties with the All-China Resistance Association of Writers and Artists. For details see Yu Zhigong, "Feng Yuxiang xiansheng yu wenyijie," XWXSL 19 (22 May 1983): 245-246. [BACK]

30. Lao She, "Ru hui shici" (Inauguration oath), in Lao She wenji 14:114. [BACK]

31. See Hu Jinquan, Lao She he tade zuopin (Hong Kong: Wenhua shenghuo chubanshe, 1977), p. 82. [BACK]

32. Quoted in Wang Xianzhong, "Beijing Folk Customs in the Works of Lao She," Chinese Literature, Summer 1985, p. 202. [BACK]

33. Lao She, "Tongsu wenyi de jiqiao," KDD 25 (1 August 1939): 2. [BACK]

34. Ibid. [BACK]

35. Ibid., p. 3. [BACK]

36. Lao She, "Zhizuo tongsu wenyi de kutong," KZWY 2.6 (15 October 1938): 90. [BACK]

37. Ibid., pp. 91-92 (paraphrased and abridged). [BACK]

38. For Liu Fu's interest in dialect literature, see Chang-tai Hung, Going to the People, pp. 62-64. For a discussion of Qu Qiubai's ideas, see Paul G. Pickowicz, Marxist Literary Thought in China: The Influence of Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1981), chap. 9. [BACK]

39. See Lao She, Lao She quyi wenxuan, p. 44. [BACK]

40. Lao She, "Tongsu wenyi de jiqiao," pp. 4-5. [BACK]

41. He Rong, "Tongsu yunwen qianshuo," in Lao She et al., Tongsu wenyi wujiang, pp. 59-86. [BACK]

42. See Lao She, Lao She quyi wenxuan, pp. 175-176. [BACK]

43. Lao She, "Duo xi duo xie," Wenhua xianfeng 1.14 (1 December 1942): 9. [BACK]

44. For Lao She's close friendship with the Potato and Big Blossom, see the preface by Hu Xieqing (Lao She's wife) to the Chinese retranslated edition of Gushu yiren (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1980). The original English version was translated from the Chinese by Helena Kuo and published in 1952 by Harcourt, Brace. In the absence of a Chinese original, this English version was translated back into Chinese for publication in 1980. For his ties with Bai Yunpeng, see Lao She, Lao She quyi wenxuan, p. 33. [BACK]

45. Lao She, Preface to San si yi (N.p.: Duli chubanshe, 1939). [BACK]

46. Lao She, "Wang Xiao gan lü," Wenyi zhendi 1.3 (16 May 1938): 77. [BACK]

47. For additional comments, see Mu Mutian, "Wenyi dazhonghua yu tongsu wenyi," Wenyi zhendi 2.8 (1 February 1939): 642. Lao She seemed to prefer this piece over any of his other drum songs; see his preface to San si yi. [BACK]

48. Lao She, "Nü'er jing," p. 55. [BACK]

49. Lao She, "Da ke wen—wenyi zuojia yu kangzhan," Yuzhou feng yikan 2 (16 March 1939): 55. [BACK]

50. For a brief autobiographical account of Lao Xiang, see YZF 3 (16 October 1935): 160-161; 4 (1 November 1935): 201; 5 (16 November 1935): 244-245. [BACK]

51. Lao Xiang, "Xiandai jiaoyu babi," LY 62 (1 April 1935): 683. [BACK]

52. Sun Fuyuan, Preface to Lao Xiang, Huangtu ni (Shanghai: Renjian shuwu, 1936), esp. p. 1. [BACK]

53. Qu Junong, "Miaoxie nongcun shenghuo de wenzhang," YZF 40 (1 May 1937): 168. [BACK]

54. See YZF 46 (1 August 1937): 455-457. [BACK]

55. See Renjian shi 27 (5 May 1935): 5, and 34 (20 August 1935): 8-11. [BACK]

56. Lao Xiang, "Kangzhan sinian lai de minzhong duwu," p. 34. [BACK]

57. See "Fakan ci" (editor's opening statement), KDD 1 (1 January 1938): 1. [BACK]

58. Ibid. [BACK]

59. See Yu Zhigong, "Feng Yuxiang xiansheng yu wenyijie," pp. 245-246; and Ye Qianyu, Hua yu lun hua, p. 176. [BACK]

60. See, for example, Lao Xiang's work in YZF 68 (16 May 1938): 114-115; also KZWY 1.10 (25 June 1938); and KDD 7 (1 April 1938): 12-13. [BACK]

61. Lao Xiang, "Mu hanyi," YZF 109 (16 November 1940): 416. [BACK]

62. For "Xiao yanzi," see Lao Xiang, "Kangzhan geyao," YZF 78 (16 May 1939):268. [BACK]

63. Lao Xiang, "Guanyu Kang-Ri sanzi jing, " KZWY 1.7 (5 June 1938): 19. For a discussion of these classics, see Evelyn S. Rawski, Education and Popular Literacy in Ch'ing China (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1979), esp. chap. 2. [BACK]

64. Lao Xiang, "Guanyu Kang-Ri sanzi jing. " [BACK]

67. Lao Xiang, "Guanyu Kang-Ri sanzi jing. " See also the advertisement, KDD 8 (16 April 1938): 22. Lao Xiang later rewrote the text and changed it to Anti-Japanese Four-Character Classic at the suggestion of Zhang Daofan (1896-1968), director of the GMD Central Propaganda Bureau. Zhang thought that "those with less education will find the four-character couplet format easier to read." See Lao Xiang, Preface to Kang-Ri qianzi wen, sizi jing (N.p.: Zhengzhong shuju, 1938). [BACK]

68. Sha Yan, "Ping Kang-Ri sanzi jing, " KDD 11 (1 June 1938): 19-20. [BACK]

69. See Xiang Da et al., eds., Taiping Tianguo (The Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace) (Beijing: Shenzhou guoguang she, 1953), 1:223-228. [BACK]

70. See Evelyn S. Rawski, "Elementary Education in the Mission Enterprise," in Christianity in China: Early Protestant Missionary Writings, ed. Suzanne Wilson Barnett and John King Fairbank (Cambridge, Mass.: Committee on American-East Asian Relations of the Department of History in collaboration with the Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1985), pp. 146-151. [BACK]

71. Lao Xiang, "Kang-Ri qianzi wen," KDD 20 (16 January 1939): 7-9. [BACK]

72. Liu E, Lao Can youji (The travels of Lao Can) (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1983), pp. 14-18; English translation by Harold Shadick, The Travels of Lao Ts'an (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1952), pp. 23-26 (paraphrased). [BACK]

73. The exact origin of drum singing is still a matter of great dispute among scholars. According to Li Jiarui, for example, drum singing began in the Qianlong era (1736-1795). Zhao Jingsheng, however, believed drum singing was a more recent phenomenon, starting only in the Tongzhi period (1862-1874). See Li Jiarui, Beiping suqu lüe (Beiping: Lishi yuyan yanjiusuo, Academia Sinica, 1933), p. 4; idem, "Tan dagushu de qiyuan," Renjian shi 31 (5 July 1935): 24; and Zhao Jingshen, "Shuo dagu," Renjian shi 31 (5 February 1935): 20. [BACK]

74. See Li Jiarui, Beiping suqu lüe, p. 6. In "Peking Drumsinging" (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1973), p. 137, Catherine Stevens points out that ''there are ordinarily four musical instruments used in performing a Beijing Drumsong. There are two percussion instruments, the clapper and the drum, which are played by the singer. The two stringed instruments, the three-stringed guitar and the fourstringed fiddle, are played by two accompanists." For the life of a female Beijing drum singer, see Zhang Cuifeng, Dagu shengya de huiyi (Taibei: Zhuanji wenxue chubanshe, 1967); translated into English as "My Life as a Drum Singer" by Rulan Chao Pian, CHINOPERL Papers 13 (1984-1985): 12-99. Zhang was a gifted disciple of master Beijing drum singer Liu Baoquan. [BACK]

75. See Zhang Cuifeng, Dagu shengya de huiyi, pp. 21, 29, 123-202; see also report in Dagong bao (Tianjin), 11 June 1937, p. 15. [BACK]

76. Another drum song advocate was Mu Mutian (1900-1971), a member of ACRAWA and a former associate of the Creation Society. See Mu Mutian, Kangzhan daguci (Hankou: Xinzhi shudian, 1938). See also KDD 5 (1 March 1938): 8-11. [BACK]

77. Zhao Jingshen, "Juyongguan," JWRB, 12 October 1937, p. 4; and idem, "Pingxingguan," JWRB, 14 October 1937, p. 4. [BACK]

78. Zhao Jingshen, "Pingxingguan." [BACK]

79. Lao Xiang, "Lunan dasheng," YZF 68 (16 May 1938): 114. It is said that Lao Xiang's praise of General Li Zongren incurred the wrath of General Chen Cheng, Li's rival and one of Generalissimo Jiang Jieshi's most trusted subordinates. According to Chen, Lao Xiang's piece was tantamount to propaganda for an individual general. See Guo Moruo, Hongbo qu, pp. 56-57. [BACK]

80. See Chang-tai Hung, Going to the People, pp. 86, 123, 131. [BACK]

81. Zhao's drum songs appeared mostly in National Salvation Daily in 1937. They later were published as Zhanshi daguci (N.p.: Zhanshi chubanshe, 1938). For the piece on Yan Haiwen, see pp. 4-7 in Zhanshi daguci. [BACK]

82. Zhao, Preface to Zhanshi daguci, p. 1. [BACK]

83. See Bo Han, "Shangbing daoqing," Quanmin zhoukan 1.11 (19 February 1938): 174; Huo Gong, "Kangdi zhuzhici, " Kangdi zhoubao 1 (18 September 1937): 5; and Hong Shen, Kangzhan shinian lai, p. 24. [BACK]

84. Zhou Wen, "Gaibian min'ge de yidian yijian," KZWY 3.8 (4 February 1939): 126. [BACK]

85. Chen Yiyuan, "Kang-Ri shan'ge," Quanmin zhoukan 1.13 (5 March 1938): 196. [BACK]

86. Ouyang Yuqian, "Shan'ge," JWRB, 10 October 1937, n.p. [BACK]

87. Bao Tianxiao, "Ba yue shisan," JWRB, 15 October 1937, p. 4. [BACK]

88. "Shisan yue," in Kang-Ri Shibeicha (Wuchang: Tongsu duwu biankanshe, 1938), p. 2. [BACK]

89. Ibid., pp. 3, 4-5. [BACK]

90. Mai Dong, "Taiyuan de jiuwang shuci yundong," Shen bao zhoukan 2.25 (27 June 1937): 564. [BACK]

91. Ibid. [BACK]

92. See, for example, Wenyi zhendi 1.4 (1 June 1938): 107-108. [BACK]

93. See "Huiwu baogao" (Association reports), KZWY 1.9 (18 June 1938): 112; 1.11 (2 July 1938): 144; 2.10 (12 November 1938): 160; 4.1 (10 April 1939): 2-3. The total income from membership fees amounted to about 300 yuan between March 1938 and March 1939 (see KZWY 4.1 [10 April 1939]: 2). These reports were written mostly by Lao She. [BACK]

94. Lao Xiang, "Kangzhan sinian lai de minzhong duwu," p. 34. [BACK]

95. For a list of titles, see Fanjian ji (N.p.: Junshi weiyuanhui houfang qinwubu zhengzhibu, 1939), inside cover page. [BACK]

96. Da xiao Riben (N.p.: Rongyu junren zhiye xunliansuo, n.d.), pp. 1-2 (abridged). [BACK]

97. See Eastman, "Nationalist China During the Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945," p. 603. [BACK]

98. See Chen Lifu, Zhanshi jiaoyu fangzhen (N.p.: Zhongyang xunliantuan junshizhengzhibu jiaoguan yanjiuban, 1939), pp. 11-14; see also idem, Four Years of Chinese Education (1937-1941) (Chungking: China Information Committee, 1944), p. 17. [BACK]

99. See John Israel, "Chungking and Kunming," p. 357. [BACK]

100. Interview with Ye Qianyu, 27 September 1989, Beijing. [BACK]

101. Liu Xinhuang, Xiandai Zhongguo wenxue shihua (Taibei: Zhengzhong shuju, 1971), p. 755. [BACK]

102. Bao Tianxiao, "Wenhuajie de xijidui—xiao cezi," JWRB, 17 October 1937, p. 4. Bao published quite a few patriotic articles during this period. See, for example, JWRB, 15 October 1937, p. 4; 29 October 1937, p. 4. [BACK]

103. See KDD 5 (1 March 1938): 30; Yu Zhigong, "Feng Yuxiang xiansheng yu wenyijie," pp. 245-246; Feng Yuxiang, Kang-Ri de weida minzhong. See also the book advertisement in KDD 10 (16 May 1938): 30. [BACK]

104. See "Jieshao Tongsu duwu biankanshe jianshi ji gongzuo," KZWY 1.4 (14 May 1938): 32. According to this source, "over a million copies from the series were printed." I have no way of verifying the number, but I believe this is greatly exaggerated. [BACK]

105. Li Ke, Hao Mengling kangdi xunguo (Wuchang: Tongsu duwu biankanshe, 1938). [BACK]

106. Xi Zhengyong, Ban Chao ding Xiyu (Changsha: Zhonghua pingmin jiaoyu cujinhui, 1938), pp. 17-18. [BACK]

107. See DGB (Hankou), 4 December 1937, p. 4; 6 December 1937, p. 4; Kangzhan xiju 1.1 (16 November 1937): 20. See also Yang Cunbin, Zhan'ge (Changsha: Zhonghua pingmin jiaoyu cujinhui, 1937). For the NAAME's mass education activities during the war, see Charles W. Hayford, To the People: James Yen and Village China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990), pp. 183-203. [BACK]

108. Cao Bohan, Xuanchuan jishu duben, pp. 74-88. [BACK]

109. Liu Qun, Zhanshi de xuanchuan gongzuo (Shenghai: Shenghuo shudian, 1937), pp. 26-28. [BACK]

110. See JWRB, 1 February 1938, p. 2. [BACK]

111. Cao Bohan, Jietou bibao (Shanghai: Shenghuo shudian, 1937), pp. 4, 16-19. [BACK]

112. Lao Xiang, "Tongsu wenyi gailun," p. 10. See also He Rong, "Zenyang shi wenzhang xiaxiang," KDD 10 (16 May 1938): 18-19. [BACK]

113. Lao Xiang, "Kangzhan sinian lai de minzhong duwu," p. 38. [BACK]

114. Chen Yiyuan, "Wenzhang xiaxiang," Quanmin kangzhan 64 (10 April 1939): 909. [BACK]

115. He Rong, "Zenyang shi wenzhang xiaxiang," p. 17. [BACK]

116. Xiang Linbing produced a number of rather influential essays on the nature of popular literature. See, for example, "Kangzhan yilai tongsu wenyi yundong de fazhan yu quexian," Dushu yuebao 1.1 (1 February 1939): 6-8; and "Xian jieduan tongsu wenyi de quexian ji qi kefu," KZWY 4.4-5 (10 October 1939): 127-129. [BACK]

117. Xiang Linbing, "Xian jieduan tongsu wenyi de quexian ji qi kefu" and especially "Kangzhan yilai tongsu wenyi yundong de fazhan yu quexian," pp. 6-7. [BACK]

118. See Mai Dong, "Taiyuan de jiuwang shuci yundong"; and Wenyi zhendi 1.4 (1 June 1938): 107-108. Both accounts describe the enthusiastic reception that peasants gave popular propaganda materials. [BACK]

119. Liu Shi, "Dazhong wenhua yundong yu minzu jiefang," Dushu shenghuo 3.9 (10 March 1936): 392-393. [BACK]