Preface; Introduction; 1. Mao Dun: Opening Address to the Fourth Congress of Chinese Writers and Artists 2. Deng Xiaoping: Congratulatory Message to the Fourth Congress of Chinese Writers and Artists 3. Zhou Yang: Inherit the Past and Usher In the Future 4. Mao Dun: Emancipate Thought and Encourage Literary and Artistic Democracy 5. Liu Baiyu: Opening Address to the third Congress of Chinese Writers Association 6. Bai Hu: No Breakthrough, No Literature 7. Wang Meng: Our Responsibility 8. Ke Yan: A Few Words in Defense of New Poetry and the Literary and Art Contingent 9. Chen Dengke: Some Suggestions Concerning Literary Work 10. Liu Binyan: The Call of the Times 11. Lin Binyan: Man Is the Aim, Man is the Center 12. Xiao Jun: A Personal Statement 13. Liu Xinwu: Telling Mother What's on My Mind 14. Xia Yan: My Hopes 15. Ba Jin: Closing Address to the Third Congress of the Chinese Writers Association 16. Xia Yan: Closing Address to the Fourth Congress of Chinese Writers and Artists

Editor Howard Goldblatt explains that while most societies analyse and revere their literary trends in retrospect, post-Liberation China's literary trends tend to be announced beforehand allowing for critics to judge how close or far from the prescribed norms a piece of art is. In this volume, a collection of speeches and reports from the Fourth Congress of Writers and Artists, well-known Chinese writers (novels, poets, and dramatists alike) debate the future direction of Chinese literature for the 1980s. Originally published in 1982, the book lends a contemporary view into the state of art and literature in China during a critical era of transformation. This title is suitable for students of Literature and East Asian Studies.