Feng Yidai

Feng Yidai was born as Feng Yide in 1913 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. He graduated from the University of Shanghai in 1936, where he met his first wife Zheng Anna. He moved to Hong Kong in 1938 and began his career as a publisher and editor. He founded and worked for several magazines and anthologies, such as Chinese Writers, an English publication that introduced Chinese literature to the world, and American Literature Series, a collection of translated works by western writers. He also wrote his own novels, essays, and short stories, such as The Shop of the Lin Family, The Concession, and The Spy, which depicted the life and society of China during the turbulent times of war and revolution. He was influenced by both western and traditional Chinese literature and culture, and had a keen eye for detail and humor. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1949 and moved to Beijing in 1952. He became the director of the Foreign Languages Publishing House and the editor-in-chief of Chinese Literature, a magazine that promoted socialist realism. However, he was denounced as a rightist in 1957 and sent to a labor camp for 20 years. He was politically rehabilitated in 1979 and resumed his literary career. He founded and edited Reading, a magazine that aimed at Chinese intellectuals and featured works by both Chinese and foreign writers. He also confessed his secret role as a government spy during the Anti-Rightist Campaign in his diaries, which were published in 2002. He married the actress and writer Huang Zongying in 1993 and lived with her until his death in 2005. He was regarded as one of the most influential and prolific writers of modern Chinese literature and culture.