What Wang Lin values more than life is his novel Hinterland. This novel, with the background of 1942, the Japanese army's "May Day Sweeping-up" of the anti-Japanese revolutionary base area in central Hebei Province, was called by the famous writer Sun Li as leaving "a panorama of the national disaster". 1950 was banned and became the first novel to be criticized after the founding of New China.

Unexpectedly, Wang Lin's angry words of "demanding a solution after death" turned out to be a prophecy.

"not caring for the party is like caring for your own eyes."

In fact, the controversy began long before the publication of Hinterland.

In this 300,000-word novel, the protagonist is Xin Dagang, an Eighth Route Army soldier who returned to the village disabled by injury. He joined the troupe and fell in love with Bai Yuji, a beautiful girl in the troupe. Fan, the village party secretary, is a descendant of a ruined landlord. After losing his wife, he wanted Bai Yuji to be his second wife, so he would criticize Xin Dagang by launching an anti-promiscuity struggle in the village. At this time, the Japanese army began a brutal May Day raid, and the village party secretary hid in a relative's house, and the village regime was paralyzed. At the critical moment, Xin Dagang resolutely assumed the responsibility of a soldier and led the villagers to launch an arduous struggle against mopping up.

The novel describes the life of villagers in wartime and the grass-roots organizations of the Communist Party of China with meticulous brushwork, and truly describes the situation and heart of the characters: the branch secretary also has selfish distractions; The protagonist also has dissatisfaction with reality, suspicion of local leaders and desire for love.

Wang Lin attaches great importance to the hinterland, because it can be said that it was bought with life.

From 65438 to 0942, Wang Lin was the vice chairman of China Construction Association in Jizhong and the president of FireWire Drama Society. According to Liu Sheng, who will be the president of the People's Liberation Army Literature and Art Publishing House in the future, in order to protect and reserve cadres, the superior asked Wang Lin and others to move to the west Taihang Mountain area immediately, but Wang Lin insisted on staying in Jizhong to witness the feat of anti-mopping-up. "Hinterland" was written at the intersection of "fortress households" like his will. After completion, he buried the manuscript deep underground, and it was not until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945 that the manuscript was dug out of the soil.

From 65438 to 0946, Wang Lin showed the manuscript of Hinterland to friends in the literary and art circles for comments. Zhang Geng, who once served as the director of the drama department in Lu Yi, Yan' an, commented: "From the first season to the sixth season, Xin Dagang went to the troupe to fall in love ... The two branch secretaries in this village are bad people. I don't know where the light is?" Another writer, Sakov, wrote to encourage him: "Comrade Zhang Geng's suggestion does not necessarily mean that this article is totally unacceptable, and there is no need to hide the famous mountains."

Among the criticisms, Chen Qixia has the loudest voice: "I don't agree to write a party leader like this. Political influence is not good, let a person feel where is the power of * *? ..... It should not be said that there are bad people in * *. The main shortcoming of Hinterland is that it doesn't love the party as much as it loves its own eyes. "

This is a sharp warning, but Wang Lin ignored it. He ran around with a manuscript with the stubbornness of a writer.

At that time, the war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was tight, and the fate of a novel was insignificant. It was not until the eve of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War that the publication of Hinterland was put back on the agenda.

From 65438 to 0949, Wang Lin entered Tianjin with the army, and later served as Minister of Culture and Education of Tianjin Federation of Trade Unions and Deputy Secretary of the Party Group of Federation of Literary and Art Circles. In June, Zhou Yang sent a letter to Wang Lin. Although he didn't read the whole work, he definitely said: "The anti-Japanese epic needs to be written and printed."

At this time, there are various suggestions for this novel, such as "can the branch secretary be replaced by the deputy branch secretary", which makes Wang Lin feel that his nerves "can't stand the ridicule of these gentlemen."

Finally, with the support of Zhou Yang, Hinterland began printing in Tianjin on August 20th, 1949. Just the day before founding ceremony, Wang Lin got the first copy of Hinterland. He gave it to his lover Liu, just like holding his own child.

The old party member 193 1 joined the Communist Party of China (CPC), participated in the "December 29th Movement" and witnessed the Xi Incident. He would never have thought that he would fall under the criticism of his comrades-in-arms because of a novel after avoiding the Japanese army's sweeping and the bullets of the Kuomintang.

Hinterland has actually become a banned book.

In the 27th and 28th issues of 1950, Chen Qixia, then deputy editor of the newspaper, published a signed article "Comment on Wang Lin's Novels".

Chen Qixia, who experienced the baptism of Yan 'an Forum on Literature and Art, made a close reading of Hinterland from the typical perspective of proletarian literature and art.

Chen Qixia's article first praised and then suppressed, first praised and then belittled some contents of Hinterland, and then "with great regret, solemnly pointed out that this novel has essential major shortcomings in choosing heroic images, reflecting internal struggles in rural areas, describing internal struggles and party leadership ..., and these shortcomings are completely intertwined with the novel."

The article unfolds slowly, enumerating various problems in the novel: the protagonist is described by the author as withdrawn, the villagers are vilified, party member has selfish distractions, the village party secretary is not active enough ... and then points to the "core of the problem": "In the novel Hinterland, does War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression actually set the leadership of the party in a specific village, the role of the party is invisible, and the inner-party struggle is full of unprincipled disputes." At the end of the article, the author warned: "We should be vigilant and think about it a thousand times for those literary and art workers who are determined to serve the workers, peasants and soldiers."

The literary newspaper of 1950 almost directly represents the Communist Party of China (CPC)'s attitude and views on literary thoughts. This 23,000-word article defines Hinterland as "denying the leadership of the Party", which has actually condemned the novel to death.

Wang Lin later wrote: "Because of Comrade Chen Qixia's criticism, Hinterland actually became a banned book."

"There is no specific document prohibiting the publication of this book. As soon as this article came out, Xinhua Bookstore couldn't buy this book, and it was all off the shelves soon. " Wang Duanyang, Wang Lin's son, told China Newsweek.

After Chen Qixia's critical article was published, Sun, then a writer, went to the bookstore to look for this novel, but he didn't buy it. Later, he came across a book "Hinterland" with its cover torn off in the waste paper pile.

Wang Lin felt angry. According to Xu Guangyao, the author of Private Zhang Ga, Wang Lin went to Zhou Yang specifically: "I wrote this novel at the gunpoint of Japanese devils. Have you seen it? " But to no avail.