Ding Ling

Ding Ling (1904–1986), born Jiang Bingzhi in Linli, Hunan, was one of the most important female writers in the history of modern Chinese literature. She rose to prominence in the 1920s with Miss Sophie's Diary, attracting widespread attention for its psychological subtlety and exploration of female self-consciousness. She joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1932, was arrested by the Nationalist government in the 1930s for left-wing activities, and subsequently made her way to Yan'an, where she devoted herself to revolutionary literary creation and cultural organisation.

Her 1948 novel The Sun Shines over the Sanggan River, a realist depiction of land reform, was awarded the Stalin Prize for Literature in 1951. In 1957 she was labelled a "rightist" and stripped of all positions, then sent to a state farm in Heilongjiang's Great Northern Wilderness for more than a decade of labour reform.

Rehabilitated in 1979, she resumed publishing until her death in 1986. The arc of her literary career vividly reflects the complex situation of modern Chinese intellectuals caught between revolution and literature.