At the beginning of 1920, Mao Dun published papers such as "What is the responsibility of modern writers" and "New and old literary criticism". Earlier, he advocated the artistic concept of "literature is life". At the same time, he was the backbone of "Literature Research Association" established by 192 1, and took over as editor-in-chief of Novel Monthly in the same year.
From the very beginning, Mao Dun advocated that literature should "show and guide life", that literature should reflect the times and society, and that it should be freed from games when it is happy or pastimes when it is frustrated. In the process of deepening and perfecting his theory, he finally came to the conclusion that literature should reflect people's pain and expectation, expose social darkness and sympathize with the "injured and insulted people" (that is, the "fourth class").
From the autumn of 1927 to the spring of 1928, Mao Dun quickly completed the trilogy Eclipse with close materials. It is a work that profoundly reflects the true mentality of revolutionary intellectuals in turbulent times, in which the description of the spiritual world of revolutionary intellectuals is beyond the reach of many works at that time. It shows that during this period, under the inner spiritual conflict, the author tried to look back calmly on the road after the May 4th Movement. Xiao Xun truly describes the soul contradiction and tragedy of the petty bourgeoisie under the suppression of the harsh real struggle, which is full of pessimism.
The novel Rainbow was written by Mao Dun 1929 in Japan from April to June. In a broader historical background, the work describes the intellectual youth seeking a new life path, and profoundly describes how a generation of intellectuals broke through the cage and embarked on a difficult mental journey of working hand in hand with the people from the May 4th Movement to the May 30th Movement. However, the partial description of the rainbow also reflects the "concept" of reviewing one's past in the "revolutionary literature" debate, so as to cover the characters and plots (especially the second half of the work), which more or less brings a conceptual tendency to the work.
War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out around 1932 to 1937, which was the heyday of Mao Dun's creation. The novel Midnight established Mao Dun's decisive position in the history of modern literature in China.
From 1939 to 1944, Mao Dun wrote the novel Corrosion,1940 ~194/year.