Dai Houying


Dai Houying was a Chinese woman novelist. Her best known work Stones in the Wall which tells the story of intellectuals named Zhao Zhenhuan, Sun Yue and He Jingfu in the Cultural Revolution, an event Dai experienced from the perspective of the persecutor, as a red guard. In 1971 she divorced her Red Guard husband and married the poet Wen Jie.

Biography

Dai received her bachelor's degree of Chinese literature from East China Normal University in 1960. She worked as a literary critic based in Shanghai until 1969 when she was accused of being a rightist during the Anti-Rightist Campaign. Dai began writing novels in 1978 which included her famous trilogy about the fates of intellectuals in China. These works were Death of a Poet, Stones in the Wall, and Footsteps in the Void. Her 1980 novel Stones in the Wall stirred controversy for her advocacy of Marxist humanism and Dai was censored from 1983 to 1986. Dai also wrote a wide range of essays, short stories, and novellas.

Works