Title: Introduction to Chinese Cultural History / The Columbia Companion to Modern Chinese Literature / 03.2 The Entrenchment of Revolutionary Language and Form

Front: What was Qu Qiubai's criticism of May Fourth language?
Back: - he suggests “massification” of the modern language and its literature
- idea being that May Fourth language is too sophisticated for the general population

Front: When was the League of Left-Wing Writers established?
Back: 1930, lobbying for a "literature closer to the working class, linguistically and otherwise"

Front: How did leftist writers exploit widespread anti-Japanese sentiment during the war?
Back: - The exploited it to "popularize their literary intiative,
- with only cost being toning down the less popular themes of class struggle and social critique."

Front: With the idea of maximizing the audience for literature as a weapon against Japanese aggression, how did they attempt to reach even the illiterate?
Back: With the use of national forms like folk theater and storytelling.
There were also living newspapers ("dramatic harangues on current events")

Front: Who assumed leadership of the All China League of Resistance Writers, when it was newly formed?
Back: Lao She.

Front: What transformed baihua further after it's initial popularization in May Fourth?
Back: - "massification,
- revolutionary literature,
- the war against Japan,
- and especially the wartime emergence of a socialist society in Communist base areas and its subsequent expansion throughout China during and after the civil war.

Front: What's another Chinese term for baihua as established during May Fourth?
Back: national language 国语

Front: What are some aspects of the militarization of language and literature during the Second Sino-Japanese War?
Back: - "Courage, determination, and even ruthlessness became exalted qualities in every field of endeavor"
- written discourse: "standardized rhetoric of battle, weapons, front lines, and enemies."
- "Even writers [...] almost invariably peppered their expression with militant and patriotic catchphrases"
- "In the Communist base areas, militarization of everyday language blended with politically correct Maoist jargon:
  - “class background,”
  - “bad elements,” and
  - “counterrevolutionary”"

Front: Why was it important in Communist base areas to know the lingo?
Back: "Becoming a good citizen in Mao’s republic largely meant acquiring the special language and concepts of Chinese communism and being able to tell the story of one’s own life adeptly using this language and these concepts. Communist Party leaders learned that perhaps the most effective way to guarantee political conformity was to recreate knowledge and language in their own image and impose it on their citizens (Apter and Saich 1994)"