Xiao Jun

Xiao Jun (, 3 July 1907 – 22 June 1988), born Liu Honglin, was a Chinese author and intellectual from Linghai, Liaoning, China. Of Manchu ethnicity, Xiao's most famous work in China is his 1934 novel Village in August which gained both popular and critical praise as anti-Japanese literature. He, along with Xiao Hong, is considered one of the most representative authors of the left-wing Northeast Authors Group. The names Xiao Hong and Xiao Jun were chosen by each author so that when put together they would be xiao xiao hongjun (, tiny red army). Early career In 1925, he entered the Northeast Military Academy which was organized under Zhang Xueliang where he studied law and military affairs. He began writing novels sometime during his studies and in 1929 published the nove Nuo... (.../Coward...) which was highly critical of the warlords tearing apart China. He published several more novels, all of which appeared in the Shengjing Times. Work with Xiao Hong In 1932, he left for Harbin, where he began a literary career in earnest. In 1933, he met Xiao Hong with whom he co-authored Bashe (, An Arduous Journey) and both published for the first time under their Xiao pseudonyms. In 1934, Xiao Jun and Xiao Hong worked together in Qingdao on the supplement to Qingdao Morning Post and Xiao Jun finished his most well-known work Village in August. In July 1937, he published the novel illegally and out of his own pocket, since the KMT held to a policy of non-resistance and did not want to incite the Japanese whom Chiang Kai-shek knew were superior militarily and could obliterate China if they wanted. The novel had an immediate impact and cemented his reputation among the literati of the time. This period saw the unleashing of Xiao's creativity with a number of short stories, novellas, essays, and the beginning of his second masterwork Di san dai (, Third Generation) which he wrote on and off for nearly twenty years. It depicts China's old feudal society, the era of bourgeois revolution, imperialism, the warlord era, and the realities of Northeastern Chinese society.