Once Mao Zedong suddenly asked, “Ding Ling, do you think our Yan’an now looks like a small, isolated court?” Ding Ling knew he was joking, so she replied, “I don’t think so, there are no civil and military officials.” “It’s not that simple!” Mao immediately pushed the brush and paper to Ding Ling and said, “Come, you can make a list first, and then I will seal the civil and military officials.” Ding Ling did not open the list, but only reported the names of people, anyway, it was a joke. Mao Zedong while writing names, while writing official positions under the names of these people, this is the imperial governor, that is the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, the Minister of War or something. After finishing this, he suddenly said: “Since it is a court, it does not matter how big or small, there must be three palaces and six houses ah! Come on, come on, you name some more, I’ll give it.” Ding Ling later said, “Even though this was a joke, it shows that Mao XX did have imperial thoughts in his mind!” This article is synthesized from Red Corner, Jiefang Daily, Essence of Literature and History, and New Business Daily.
Ding Ling with her old hometown friend Mao Zedong
Ding Ling (center) was assigned to the Northern Wilderness after being classified as a rightist
People who know the story say that among the writers in Yan’an, Mao Zedong appreciated Ding Ling. During his lifetime, Mao Zedong wrote two poems dedicated to “praising people”. One was a compliment to General Peng Dehuai, while the other was a “salute” to Ding Ling. This shows how much Mao Zedong valued Ding Ling.
“Yesterday Miss Wen, today General Wu”
In May 1933, Ding Ling, a famous writer of the Left League, was arrested for her husband Feng Da’s mutiny, and was then put under house arrest for three years. She received a warm welcome from the CPC Central Committee. Mao Zedong said wryly, “We are real old-timers, and there is no need to cry when old-timers see old-timers. You are 11 years younger than me, so you are a little sister!”
Under the arrangement of Mao Zedong, Ding Ling went to the front in late November, and on December 30, Mao XX filled out a song “Linjiang Xian” for Ding Ling, praising her as “yesterday’s Miss Wen, today’s General Wu”, which was also sent by military telegram to Nie Rongzhen, the political commissar of the First Red Army Corps, who forwarded it to Ding Ling. At that time, the Xi’an Incident was only ten days old, and the brains of the Communist Party were running fast with the response plan, so Mao Zedong was actually distracted by such interest in writing and writing, which showed the importance he attached to Ding Ling.
In the autumn of 1955, Ding Ling and her working partner Chen Qi Xia were branded as the “Ding-Chen Anti-Party Group”, and in 1957 she was branded as a “rightist”. Her essay “Feeling on the 8th of March” was rehashed as “anti-Party poisonous weed”, and she was branded a “traitor” for having lived with Feng Da.
It was widely believed that Zhou Yang, who was the head of propaganda at the time, was narrow-minded and used his power to send the talented Ding Ling to hell. However, a document from a witness reveals that during a meeting of the Central Propaganda Department in the winter of 1956 to review Ding Ling’s complaint, Zhou Yang said that the criticism of Ding Ling in 1955 was directed by Mao XX of the Party Central Committee. Thereafter, in January 1957, Mao Zedong, at a meeting of provincial and municipal party secretaries held by the Central Committee, listened to the report of the Cultural Committee and said, “It is not good to kill, shut down or control people like Xiao Jun and Ding Ling, but to seize their pigtails and criticize the stink.” In early 1958, Mao Zedong himself wrote the article “Re-Criticism”, which put Ding Ling in a desperate situation.
At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Ding Ling was photographed in the streets of Baoquanling Farm during a criticism parade. The photo shows Ding Ling with her face painted black and wearing a high hat with the words “Ding Ling, a great rightist” written on it.
Gao Hua, a famous historian, commented that, in the end, Mao’s affinity and antipathy toward Ding Ling were both political, transcending personal relationships and taking a political perspective. After the founding of New China, Ding Ling’s “liberalism” was still strong and she was too good at making a splash. More importantly, the uncovering of Ding Ling, a major writer within the Party, could shake up intellectuals nationwide.
Ding Ling was finally rehabilitated in 1984, and she said that she had been branded as a rightist because of the political climate, not because of Mao XX. Ding Ling said, “I don’t care what he did to me, I was in love with him.”
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