Qiu Dongping (May 16, 1910 – July 24, 1941), originally named Qiu Tanyue, also used the name Qiu Tanye, with courtesy names Xizhen and Shuozhen. His pen name Dongping became so widely used that he was generally known as Qiu Dongping. He was a modern Chinese writer from Haifeng, Guangdong.
Qiu Dongping joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1926 and participated in the Hailufeng Uprising the following year. After the uprising failed, he fled to Hong Kong and began his literary career. Following the Mukden Incident in 1931, Qiu returned to China to devote himself to the anti‑Japanese national salvation movement. He took part in the Battle of Shanghai (1932), the Fujian Incident, and the , and was active in organizations such as the League of Left-Wing Writers and the . After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, Qiu went to the front lines of the War of Resistance against Japan. In 1938 he joined the New Fourth Army and accompanied the troops as they advanced into enemy‑occupied areas in southern and northern Jiangsu. On 24 July 1941, Qiu Dongping was killed in action during an anti‑mop‑up operation in northern Jiangsu.
Qiu Dongping was closely associated with Hu Feng, and many of his works were published in Hu Feng's magazine . Thus, Qiu is regarded as an important representative of the . His literary output consisted mainly of fiction and documentary literature, and his extensive writings on the war against Japan have earned him recognition as a pioneer of modern Chinese war literature. His style tends to explore the psychological and personal character of his subjects against a somber, oppressive atmosphere. His major works include the short‑story collection , the documentary narrative , and the unfinished novel .
Biography Early revolutionary involvement Qiu Dongping was born into a family that was both peasant and small‑trader in Mafulong Village, Meilong Town, Haifeng County, Guangdong Province (Qing dynasty). He was the sixth child in the family. At the age of seven he entered a village private school. A year later he and his fifth brother enrolled in a primary school, successively studying at Banxiang Primary School in Meilong, the Shuikou Township School, and a school at the foot of Lotus Hill in the Meiling range. While in primary school, Qiu participated in the Child Labour Corps. In 1924 he was admitted to the Haifeng County Lu'an Normal School. The predecessor of Lu'an Normal School was Peng Pai's alma mater, Haifeng Middle School, and Peng frequently returned to give speeches, so Qiu was influenced by revolutionary culture. At school he joined the literary club Chenxi She (Morning Light Society) and was active in its activities. In 1925 he joined the Chinese Communist Youth League and served as secretary of the Haifeng school branch. After the victory of the National Revolutionary Army's second Eastern Expedition in October of the same year, Qiu left school and enrolled in a Haifeng party cadre training class, throwing himself into the Haifeng peasant movement.
In January 1926, Qiu Dongping became secretary‑general of the Communist Youth League's Haifeng Special Committee and took part in editing and publishing the magazine Haifeng Youth. In the same year he joined the Chinese Communist Party and served as secretary to Zheng Zhiyun, head of the Organization Department of the Hailufeng Local Committee. In 1927, Qiu participated in both of the Hailufeng Uprisings. In November 1927, under the leadership of Peng Pai, the Hailufeng Soviet was formally established as the first soviet government in China. During this period, Qiu briefly served as Peng Pai's secretary. In February 1928, the Hailufeng Soviet regime collapsed; Peng Pai evacuated, but Qiu stayed behind to continue the struggle. Faced with a mopping‑up campaign by local militia, Qiu left his hometown in August with the help of his family and was sent to Hong Kong. While living in exile in Hong Kong, he worked as an apprentice, a shoemaker, a fisherman, a peddler, and a proofreader for a Catholic publisher. Despite his impoverished life, he read extensively the works of Maxim Gorky, taught himself English, engaged in writing, participated in the activities of Hong Kong's first new‑literature group, the , and began to contribute to local newspapers.
Participation in the anti‑Japanese national salvation movement After the Mukden Incident broke out in 1931, Qiu Dongping was introduced by his second elder brother, , to the staff of , commander of the 156th Brigade of the 78th Division of the National Revolutionary Army's 19th Route Army in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. In 1932 he took part in the Battle of Shanghai. During the battle he co‑founded the magazine with his friend and published many commentaries in it, criticizing social ills and encouraging resistance. After the battle ended, Qiu followed the 19th Route Army when it left Shanghai and moved into Fujian Province. While in Fujian, he was forced to leave the army after he disobeyed Weng Zhaoyuan's order to organize a mass meeting, and he returned to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong he launched the monthly , which was soon banned by the Hong Kong British authorities. Thereafter he went to Shanghai, where he met Hu Feng, , Nie Gannu, and Ouyang Shan. On 15 November 1932, Qiu Dongping's short story "The Dispatch Rider" (通讯员) was published in the fourth issue of the League of Left-Wing Writers organ . The story established his reputation and marked his entry into the ranks of revolutionary‑literature writers.
In November 1933, the 19th Route Army launched the Fujian Incident. Qiu returned to the army and was commissioned by its headquarters to travel from Fuzhou to Shanghai to seek contact with the CCP organization. After the Fujian Incident failed, Qiu remained in Shanghai and took part in Left‑League activities. In September 1934 he worked as a proofreader for the semi‑monthly , edited by Chen Wangdao. In the winter of that year, because of a dispute with Chen Wangdao, he left Taibai and made the acquaintance of . Thereafter he shuttled between Shanghai and Hong Kong, doing united‑front work. In the spring of 1935, Qiu crossed to the Japan and took part in the activities of the Left‑League branch in Tokyo, during which time he met Guo Moruo. In the spring of 1936 he returned from Japan and participated in the activities of the Chinese National Revolutionary Alliance, organized by former 19th‑Route‑Army officers. In the summer of 1936, through a friend's introduction, he met Ye Ting in Hong Kong. In June he accompanied 19th‑Route‑Army officers in the Liangguang Incident, operating along the Guangdong–Guangxi border. In September, Qiu moved to Shanghai.
After the outbreak of the Battle of Shanghai (1937) following the August 13 Incident, Qiu Dongping collaborated with , , Ouyang Shan, and to write the novella The Giver (给予者), which created one of the earliest anti‑Japanese heroic figures. In September he left Shanghai and travelled north to Nanjing and Jinan to observe the frontline. In late October, Qiu returned to Nanjing and once again met Ye Ting. He then followed Ye to Wuhan to assist in the preparations for the New Fourth Army.
In the New Fourth Army In January 1938, Qiu Dongping followed the New Fourth Army headquarters to Nanchang and was assigned to the army's . In April he joined the advance detachment commanded by Su Yu, which penetrated behind enemy lines in southern Jiangsu to carry out strategic reconnaissance. In June he took part in the New Fourth Army's first battle south of the Yangtze, the , and later recorded it in the piece "Interception" (截击). After the battle the advance detachment was disbanded, and Qiu was kept in the Jiangnan area by Chen Yi, serving as chief of the Enemy‑Work Section of the Political Department of the First Detachment and concurrently as Chen Yi's foreign‑affairs secretary. In July, when the First Detachment arrived in Danyang, the CCP Southern Jiangsu Working Committee was established; Qiu served as a committee member. In February 1939 he attended the New Fourth Army's all‑army political‑work conference, and in July he attended the army's first party congress. In November he became chief of the Enemy‑Work Section of the Political Department of the New Fourth Army's Jiangnan Headquarters. During this period he wrote a considerable amount of military documentary literature.
In 1940, Qiu followed Chen Yi and Su Yu across the Yangtze River and took part in the Battle of Huangqiao. In November, when the was established in Hai'an, Jiangsu, Qiu continued to serve as head of the Enemy‑Work Department. At the same time, the planned to establish a Central China branch of the Lu Xun Academy of Arts, and Qiu was a member of its preparatory committee. On 8 February 1941 the Central China Branch of the Lu Xun Academy of Arts was formally established in Yancheng; Liu Shaoqi concurrently served as its president, while Qiu Dongping became its dean of studies and de facto head of the academy. He also held a professorship in the literature department. On 17 April the Northern Jiangsu Cultural Association was founded in Yancheng, and Qiu was elected one of its first directors. During his time at the Lu Xun Academy's Central China branch, he chaired and participated in discussions on making literature and art accessible to the masses and in commemorations of the fifth anniversary of Gorky's death, advocating that artists immerse themselves in life and serve the workers, peasants, and soldiers. In June, Qiu resigned from the post of dean of studies to concentrate on writing his novel Under Mount Mao.
In July 1941, Japanese forces launched an offensive against Yancheng (part of the ). On the afternoon of 23 July, arrived at the Central China Lu Xun Academy to convey military orders for an immediate evacuation. Qiu Dongping, the dramatist , and others led a portion of the academy's personnel and members of the in a detour behind Japanese lines. At dawn on the 24th, the group reached Beiqinzhuang. In the darkness, they were surrounded by Japanese forces. The breakout was devastating: over 30 were killed, 62 were captured, and fewer than 70 ultimately escaped. Qiu Dongping was shot in the head while directing the breakout and died. The Central China Lu Xun Academy was disbanded in late August. After Qiu's death he was buried in Jianhu County, and the local party committee and government renamed the area Dongping Village in his honor.
Literary works Style and criticism