Xiao San’s life experience

Xiao San’s original name is Xiao Zixin, a native of Xiangxiang, Hunan. After graduating from the First Normal University of Hunan Province, he taught at the primary school attached to the First Normal University and founded the Xinmin Society with Mao Zedong and Cai Hesen. In 1918, he went to Beijing and enrolled in a preparatory class for studying in France during a work-study program, and later participated in the May 4th Movement. In May 1920, he went to France and entered the Ecole de Mondage, where he organized the "Ecole World Society" and studied Marxism-Leninism. He joined the Communist Party of China in the autumn of 1922 and went to Russia at the end of the year to study at the University of Oriental Workers. He returned to China in 1924. When the Kuomintang split in 1927, he served as the Organization Minister and Acting Secretary of the Youth League Central Committee, and participated in three workers' uprisings in Shanghai. Later, he went to the Soviet Union to recuperate due to illness, and successively taught at the Far Eastern University and the Moscow Oriental Institute. In the autumn of 1930, as a representative of the Chinese Left-wing Writers' Alliance, he attended the International Revolutionary Writers' Representative Conference held in Kharkov, Soviet Union. He was elected as the secretary of the International Revolutionary Writers' Alliance Secretariat and edited the Chinese version of "World Revolutionary Literature". In 1933, he entered the Red Professor College to study. In 1934, he attended the First Representative Conference of Soviet Writers and was elected as a member of the Party Committee of the Soviet Writers' Association for two consecutive terms. While in the Soviet Union, in addition to writing and publishing poems in Russian, he supported Soviet China and promoted the Chinese revolution and the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and promoted Shandong and Chinese left-wing literature. He had considerable influence internationally. After returning to China in 1939, he worked in Yan'an Luyi Art Association, Literary Association, and Cultural Club, editing "Popular Literature and Art" and "New Poetry", working with foreign comrades on foreign publications, initiating and organizing the Yan'an Poetry Society, and carrying out street poetry and poetry recitation movements. , published articles such as "Comrade Mao Zedong's Youth". After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he went to Zhangjiakou and served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region Cultural Association and published the folk song collection "Mao Zedong is Born in China". His biography about Mao Zedong is widely circulated. Director of the International Cultural Liaison Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, Secretary of the Secretariat of the Writers' Association, Director of the International Cultural Affairs Committee, Executive Director of the International Literary and Art Association, Director of the World Peace Council and Secretary of its Secretariat, Editorial Board Member of "Translation", etc., as a representative of the cultural community and peace The envoys traveled to famous places around the world and contributed to central cultural exchanges and world peace. He takes friendship as his theme. He edited "Poems of Revolutionary Martyrs" and its sequels, and was also a famous literary translator.

Xiao San has been studious and fond of literature since he was a child. His talent for poetry creation was revealed in his youth. During the May 4th Movement and the First Great Revolution, he wrote some anti-imperialist and anti-feudal poems, essays and newsletters, as well as revolutionary poetry leaflets and slogans. But he mainly devoted his youthful energy to practical revolutionary work. His real poetry career began in the early 1930s.

In 1928, Xiao San suffered a concussion due to a fall. With the help of Qu Qiubai and *** Industrial International, he went to Moscow to recuperate. He once studied at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow with Xu Teli, Lin Boqu, Dong Biwu, Wu Yuzhang, He Shuheng and others. Soon, Comrade Xiao San went to Moscow Oriental University as a professor of Chinese literature and began his literary activities.

Xiao San entered the literary world with the spirit of "revolutionary utilitarianism in literature and art". He "decided to use literature, art and poetry as weapons to fight for the victory of the Chinese revolution and the ideal of communism." In the end!" During his more than ten years in the Soviet Union, he wrote a large number of poems, essays, novels and reportages in Chinese and Russian, publicizing the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and the Agrarian Revolution to the world, and praising the Chinese Communist Party. and Soviet power. In the era when the Chinese revolution was under heavy blockade, when enemies at home and abroad were slandering, vilifying, and conducting distorted propaganda against the Chinese revolution, the Communist Party of China, and the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, except for the American journalist and writer Smedley In addition to Xiao and Snow, who broke through all kinds of resistance and reported the true situation of the Chinese revolution to the world in the form of communications, Xiao San was the first to use poetry and other literary and artistic forms to publicize the truth of the Chinese revolution to the world.

While Xiao San was in the Soviet Union, he maintained close communication with Mr. Lu Xun. He was the first person in the Soviet Union to promote the great Lu Xun to the world and introduce Chinese left-wing literature. He once attended the First Congress of Soviet Writers on behalf of Lu Xun. He wrote many articles introducing Lu Xun's life and deeds and commemorating Lu Xun, and translated Lu Xun's works. , also presided over the editing and publishing of Lu Xun's works. His admiration for Lu Xun remained lifelong.

Xiao San was also one of the forerunners of my country's New Writing Movement. As early as the 1920s, he worked with Qu Qiubai, Wu Yuzhang, Lin Boqu and other famous Soviet sinologists Guo Zhisheng, Long Guofu and others to formulate the " "China's New Character Plan". In the following decades, he did a lot of work on the reform of Chinese characters.

Xiao San has long held various leadership positions in the literary and art circles, and has made long-term and unremitting efforts for my country's literary and new poetry movements.

As a bridge between Chinese and foreign cultures and a messenger of peace, "Aimi Xiao" became internationally famous as early as the 1920s. He had extensive contacts with international peace and progressive people, and got acquainted with the French Communist theoretician Shari Rapopo, the Vietnamese revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, the Bulgarian revolutionary Dimitrov, and the Turkish revolutionary poet Hikmet. As well as many celebrities from the Soviet Union and other countries.

In 1930, on behalf of the Chinese Left-wing Writers Alliance, he attended the International Revolutionary Writers Conference held in Kharkov, Soviet Union, participated in the work of the International Revolutionary Writers Alliance, and edited the Chinese version of "International Literature". In 1934, he attended the First Congress of Soviet Writers and spoke at the conference on behalf of Lu Xun and the Chinese Leftist Federation. With the approval of the Communist Party of China and introduction by Fadeev, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and served as a member of the Party Committee of the Soviet Writers Association for two terms. During this period, he got acquainted with Gorky, Mayakovsky, Ostrovsky, Tolstoy, etc. from the Soviet Union; Smedley and Gold from the United States; Romain Rolland, Famous writers and poets from many countries such as Aragon and Babise. It has done a lot of work for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries and to promote understanding and support of the Chinese revolution and the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in various countries around the world.

Xiao San is knowledgeable and highly educated. He is proficient in Russian, French, German, English and other languages. He is a language master and a famous literary translator.

After the founding of New China, Xiao San shouldered the mission of international cultural exchanges and safeguarding world peace. As an envoy of the Chinese people, he traveled around the world all year round and attended previous conferences on safeguarding world peace. He also presided over my country's international cultural exchange work, visited many countries, and attended the Asian and African Writers Conference twice. He worked with Joliot Curie, Ellenburg, Surkov, Neruda, Jan Derda, Anderson-Niksius, Armado, Ventulery, Ivens and other dozens of countries. Hundreds of famous politicians, writers, artists, poets, scientists and scholars have close and friendly exchanges.

Xiao San is an upright man, simple in style, approachable and willing to help others. In 1962, he turned over all the editing fees for the "Poems of Revolutionary Martyrs" that he edited. In 1981, he donated all the royalties from "Selected Poems of Xiao San" to the people in the disaster-stricken areas of Sichuan.

After the "Cultural Revolution", Xiao San attended four literary conferences, served as vice president of the International PEN China PEN Center, was elected as a director of the Writers Association, and was a member of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.