The Art of Yan’an and Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art

During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, young painters who had accepted the leadership of Lu Xun came to Yan’an, and based on their strong dissatisfaction with the rule of the Kuomintang, radical literary artists believed that Yan’an, which was ruled by the Communist Party, should be the future of China and went there to seek out the possibilities of free creation. In the rectification movement within the CPC, in order to unify literary and artistic thoughts, Mao Zedong set the standards of art and politics for artists through his Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art. He argued that the direction that writers and artists should pursue is to regard art as a “screw in the revolutionary machine.” He wanted literary artists to serve workers, peasants, and soldiers with their creations, learn from folk art, and serve the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression led by the Communist Party. Thereafter, Mao’s Talks became the basic guiding ideology for the CPC in leading literary and artistic work into the future.