Zheng Zhenduo (1989— 1958) is a modern writer, literary historian, famous scholar and one of the active advocates of the new culture movement. He was born in a poor family. 19 17. He attended Beijing Railway Management School with the help of relatives and friends. After graduation, I worked in the Compilation Institute of Shanghai Commercial Press. 1920165438+10, together with Mao Dun, Ye Shengtao and others, initiated the establishment of the Literature Research Association and edited the official publication of the Literature Research Association, Literature Weekly. After 1923, he served as the editor-in-chief of Novel Monthly for a long time, actively advocated realistic literature and blood and tears literature all his life, and devoted himself to translating and introducing literary works of small and weak ethnic groups such as the Soviet Union. The view of literary unity, written by him at 192 1, is the earliest paper advocating comparative literature research in theory in China. In the same year, he wrote "Suggestions on Sorting out China Literature", which was the first paper that China proposed to sort out literary heritage with new ideas and methods. His 800,000-word magnum opus Literature Outline can be said to be the first real general history of world literature.

Zheng Zhenduo's 700,000-word magnum opus Illustration of the History of China Literature published in 1930s is the largest and most influential monograph on the history of China literature in China before liberation. The History of Chinese Folk Literature published at the same time is also the first history of folk literature in China, and there is no substitute so far.

Zheng Zhenduo's contribution to cultural fields other than literature is also admirable. China Historical Reference Atlas, Xuan Lan Tang Series, Ming Dynasty Historical Materials Series and China Ancient Ming Dynasty Pottery Figurines Catalogue edited in the 1940s are all great contributions to the cultural field of China. In 1950s, he edited Selected Woodcuts in Ancient China and Selected Paintings in Song Dynasty, and won many international most beautiful book awards in 1980s.

After liberation, Zheng Zhenduo served as a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, director of the Institute of Literature of China Academy of Sciences and vice minister of culture. 1958 10 07 10 17, he was killed in a plane crash while leading a cultural delegation from China to visit Afghanistan and the United Arab Republic.