Zheng zhenduo

He lived in Britain and France in 1927. After returning to China, he served as a professor at Beijing Yanjing University, Tsinghua University, and Shanghai Jinan University, and editor-in-chief of World Library. In February, Zheng Zhenduo, Ye Shaojun, Hu Yuzhi and others initiated the establishment of the "Shanghai Writers Guild". The Guild actively participated in the revolutionary activities before and after the third armed uprising of Shanghai workers. After the April 12 coup, he, Hu Yuzhi and others wrote a letter to the Kuomintang authorities strongly protesting against the massacre of revolutionary people, and were narrowly arrested for this. In May, I took a boat to Europe for asylum and study tours. In libraries of France, Britain and other countries, he has read books on ancient China novels, operas, Bianwen and other books, studied Greek and Roman literature, and translated "Introduction to Folklore","A Brief Introduction to Folklore" and "History of the Excavation of Ancient Tombs in the Last Hundred Years", and also created most of the works in the short story collection "Family Stories."

Zheng Zhenduo has made many outstanding contributions to China's cultural and academic undertakings. In terms of literary theory, he was one of the important advocates of literature "for life" in the early stage of the literary revolution. In June 1921, he further put forward the slogan "Literature of Blood and Tears" ("Literature of Blood and Tears") and demanded that progressive writers create "Red Works with Blood and Tears" ("Our Miscellaneous Notes"). Since then, he has adhered to the revolutionary realist literary theory throughout his life, emphasizing the function of literature in social reform and advocating that literature serve the people. In terms of literary research, in the early 1920s, he advocated and engaged in a comprehensive comparative study of ancient and modern literature at home and abroad, and earlier put forward and started to use new perspectives and methods to organize and study the history of Chinese literature, especially always paying attention to the collection and research of folk literature, novels, and opera.