I have described the general historical background to C hu's formative years. H ow ever, in order to understand the derivation o f h er thinking, the follow ing sections provide a more system atic analysis o f the lives, and literary and political ideas o f the four people who were the m ain influences on Chu T'ien- wen.
The first, and m ost im portant is Chu Hsi-ning. W e have seen that Chu H si-ning's w orking career was spent with the KM T regim e fin ish in g up as a senior officer. The shape o f his career was determ ined not ju s t by his literature, but also by the key role that propaganda and indoctrination w ere predicted to
play in the eventual successful accom plishm ent o f the n atio n al m ission to "recover the mainland" (fan-kung ta-lu). The KMT considered that one o f the crucial factors in the Communist victory was the strong support m obilised among writers.
In 1951, the "Chinese Literature Association" (C hung-kuo wen-yi hsieh- hui) was established in Taiwan with a strict instruction to use literature to serve the political and m ilitary m ission o f the KM T.38 The o bject was in com plete agreement with Chu Hsi-ning's own beliefs. W ith his know ledge and experience o f the brutal w ar in m ainland China, it was quite natural for him to write anti- Japanese and anti-Com m unist stories. He blam ed the C om m unists for causing the "loss o f China", and forcing him and the other m ainlanders to suffer the pain o f exile. His first collection o f short stories Love o f the F lam ing Torch (Ta huo- chli te ai, 1952)39 forcefully prom oted the m ilitary and anti-C om m unist spirit of the KMT.
In his collection o f short stories H ead fo r the Sun (Pen-hsiang t'ai-yang, 1971), his condem nation o f Communism is expressed by telling o f the soldiers' anguish in having to leave their hom etowns on m ainland C hina. O ne o f the characters in the title story shouts in his patriotic devotion to C hiang Kai-shek;
38. Helmut Martin points out that the name of "Chung-kuo wen-yi" shows that the KMT government took a hands-off approach towards Taiwan's localist bentu- literature and rather emphasised a concept of "ROC Chinese literature." See Helmut Martin, "The History of Taiwanese Literature: Towards Cultural-Political Identity," Published by Richard Wilhelm-Ubersetzungszentrum, Ruhr University, Bochum, No. 3 (June, 1995): 2.
39. Ta huo-chu te ai (The Love o f Flame Torch) (Taipei: Ch'ung-kuang wen-yi ch'u-pan-she, 1952).
"We have suffered so much, and been subject to such hum iliation to be here (Taiwan). . . Our hope (Chiang Kai-shek) is here."40
M oreover, Chu Hsi-ning's anti-Communism did not spring only from his experiences and his duty as a propaganda officer. He also strongly believed that Communism had absolutely nothing in common with C onfucian hum anism . In his opinion, a pre-requisite o f the recovery o f the m ainland was the achievem ent o f social order; and that social order could only be achieved if society show ed respect for the Tao, cared for the Earth and cherished the People. The Confucian emphasis on harm ony between the environment and the people: "Heaven, Earth, and People" (t'ien, ti, jen)41 is central to Chu Hsi-ning's philosophy — w hich he applied in playing his part in the task o f recovering the m ainland.
A num ber o f Chu Hsi-ning's works, such as The G eneral a n d I (Chiang- chiin yii wo, 1976) and B y Com m and o f the G eneral (C hiang chun ling, 1989) depicted the KM T party cadres' dedication to the army and their sincere concern for the people.42 His novel The Battle o f A ugust Tw enty-Third (Pa erh san p'ao- chan, 1979) which was based on a fierce exchange o f fire betw een Taiw an and C hina in the 1950s, depicts the soldier's patriotic fervour in fighting fo r his
40. Chu Hsi-ning, Pen-hsiang t'ai-yang (Head for the Sun) (Taipei: Lu-chun ch'u- pan-she, 1971), p. 173.
41. The idea of "t'ien, ti, jen" can be also found in a Taoist work, Kuan Tsu. The philosophy behind it is to reduce individuality and to emphasise on the idea of being submissive to the established order, since "t'ien" means "t'ien-li" (The Way of Heaven),which is the "abstracted form for symbol for the feudal order."
See Liu Tse-hua, Chung-kuo ch'uan-tung cheng-chih ssu-hsiang fan-ssu (Rethinking the Traditional Chinese Political Thought) (Peking: San-lien shu-tien, 1987), pp. 74, 133.
42. See Chu Hsi-ning's Chiang-chun yii wo (The General and I) (Taipei: Hung-fan, 1976) and Chiang chun ling (By Command of the General) (Taipei: Yuan-liu, 1989).
country, and the solidarity betw een soldiers and the ord in ary people while confronting the enemy, the Communists.43
Chu T'ien-wen was inspired by Chu Hsi-ning's depiction o f the admirable behaviour o f men and women in the heat o f battle, and the unity o f the army and the people in their common purpose 44 Her father's writing helped to confirm Chu in feeling an obligation to society to resist Communism. Chang Ai-ling also had high praise for Chu Hsi-ning's collected stories M olten Iro n (T'ieh-Chiang, 1963) writing to him saying: "From my point o f view, the courage o f (your characters) can only be found in the W aning States period (403-221 B.C.). This is the thing that I and the m ost o f our fellow countrymen have lost and still lack."45 Chu Hsi- ning was gratified by Chang's praise o f one o f his works. It w ill be clear that there was no room in Chu Hsi-ning's thinking for shilly-shallying or compromise, a feature he passed on to the young Chu T'ien-wen in full measure.