Ou-Yang Shan

Born 1908 in Ying-yu, Hupeh Province. Chinese writer. Member of the Communist Party of China. Member of the Chinese League of Left Writers (1930–36).

Ou-yang Shan began publishing in 1923. His first short-story collections, including The Seven-Year Vow (1935) and The Hungry and the Cold (1937), are devoted mainly to the life of the poor. In 1942, during the resistance against Japanese aggression, Ou-yang Shan published the novel The Fruits of War. His most popular work was the novella Koa Kan-ta (1946; Russian translation, 1961), which deals with the cooperative movement in the villages of the liberated districts. He is also the author of the novellas Three Lives of a Hero (1955) and The Bright Path (1955; Russian translation, 1961) and the historical-revolutionary epic The Best People of the Day, of which two volumes have been published: The Lane of Three Families (1959) and A Hard Struggle (1962). During the “cultural revolution” Ou-yang Shan was subjected to unjustified criticism.