Novel
The Hurricane
暴風驟雨
Zhou Libo · 1948
Synopsis
Shortly after the Japanese defeat, a work team led by Xiao Xiang settles in Yuanmaotun, on the banks of the Songhua, to carry out land reform. It sets about turning the poor peasants against Han Laoliu, a tyrannical landowner who holds the village in his grip. Among them, Zhao Yulin, who has toiled all his life without escaping poverty, to the point that his family has nothing to wear, gradually awakens to the struggle. The book follows the meetings, the confrontations with the landowner and the division of the land.
Context
The author, who had led the redistribution of land in Yuanbao district, in Shangzhi, from October 1946, drew from it the village of Yuanmaotun, and then spent four months in Zhoujiagang to complete his material. The first volume appeared in April 1948 in Jiamusi, the second in May 1949, and the two were combined in October 1949, according to Chinawriter. The book received a third-class Stalin Prize for 1951. It follows the path laid down by Mao at Yan'an, a literature in the service of workers, peasants and soldiers. An English translation by Hsu Meng-hsiung appeared in Beijing in 1955, under the title The Hurricane, and a French one, L'Ouragan, in 1981.
Who it is for
A novel in two volumes on land reform, written as close as possible to the peasants' language; a French version appeared in Beijing.
Prizes and reception
Honoured in Moscow in 1952 for the previous year; Chinawriter ranks it among the red classics that are still read.