Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 7, 2022

 

“The Yan’an Talks” and Cultural Creation of Chinese Literature and Art

(Abstract)

 

Zhao Xueyong

 

Comrade Mao Zedong’s “Talks at Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art” (the Talks) is an important achievement of the Sinicization of Marxist literary and art theory, which not only guided the new development of Chinese literature and art but also bore epoch-making value and significance in cultural creation. The cultural innovation of the Talks is prominently reflected in the evolution of ren (people) concept and the transformation of cultural values it brought about. The connotation of ren elucidated by the Talks has changed from the individualized “human” in the early stage of new literature movement to “the people.” Establishing the orientation of creating literature and art “for the people,” treating the people as the entity of cultural creation as well as pursuing the value of human liberation manifest the profound transformation of cultural values. This transformation has given the revolutionary literature and art a distinctive nature of new democratic culture, enabling Chinese literature and art to obtain unprecedented cultural creativity. The Talks provided a feasible approach to the cultural creation of Chinese literature and art by proposing how to properly cope with the relationship between popularization and improvement. With grand historical bearing and contemporary awareness, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on literary and art work have enriched and expanded the Talks’ spirit of cultural creation under new historical conditions. From the perspective of national rejuvenation and cultural creation, these expositions have made new and profound elucidation of important problems, i.e. the affinity to the people being the connotation of literature and art as well as the improvement problem of literature and art work, thus providing fundamental guidance for cultural creation of Chinese Literature and art in the new era.