The Writing Background of Midnight

One,

Speaking of Midnight, it was written after Mao Dun had "an attempt to describe social phenomena in China on a large scale". Midnight shows us the tragedy of the fate of a national industrial capital society-how a powerful and promising national industrial giant, under the double squeeze of imperialism and warlord politics and under the attack of the workers' and peasants' revolution, running all the way has been losing ground.

This article is grand, rigorous and clear. Only the beginning and end chapters can show the author's originality. Wu Sun-fu greeted his old father. He lived in Shanghai to avoid disasters. When the soft breeze from Shanghai gently blew on the Suzhou River, people felt weak all over. At this time, Wu Sunfu was majestic and arrogant. At the end of the book, Wu Sunfu was defeated by Zhao, and his factory, bank and residence were all gone. He took menstruation to Guling to calm down, quiet and depressed. Doesn't this noisy and quiet echo reflect the author's ingenuity?

This book only writes about the urban workers' movement, which can no longer represent the mainstream of the revolution at that time. At that time, under the wrong guidance of Li's line, the urban workers' movement was huge, the enemy panicked, and the revolutionary forces suffered heavy losses, which made the atmosphere of the novel tragic, but overall it was bleak, and did not show the great spirit of the China revolution and the prospect of inevitable victory in the end.

Midnight created many roles for us. First, Wu Sunfu, a burly and resolute man with a purple face with blisters on his face. With the knowledge, abundant funds, extraordinary courage, originality and skills gained during his travels in Europe and America, he tried to realize his fantasy. Tall chimneys, like forests, are emitting black smoke; The ship is braving the wind and waves, and the car is crossing the powerful industrial kingdom of Yuanye. However, he was born at the wrong time. The semi-feudal and semi-colonial social nature determines his tragic fate. In the characterization, Mao Dun realized his creative intention: "Although there are some people like the French bourgeoisie in China, semi-colonial China in 1930 is different from France in18th century, so the future of China bourgeoisie is very bleak." Wu Sun-fu's opponent, comprador financial capitalist Zhao, is also a striking and important image. However, the author did not try to describe him positively, but vividly established the image of a "bond market demon" through the comparison of other characters. He not only has contacts with the military and political circles, but also "mingles with the Americans". "At first, the public debt was like a ghost coming to help, and you can get it back." It was his successful return that drove Wu Sunfu to the wall.

The writing intention of this novel is related to the heated debate about the social nature of China at that time.

Such an excellent novel is really worth seeing, reading and studying. This is a good example of China's industry at that time. Reading this novel is equivalent to understanding the background of the times at that time, which is of great help and promotion to our understanding of literature.

Second,

Before and after the writing of Midnight

/kloc-in the autumn of 0/930, I suffered from eye diseases, stomach diseases and neurasthenia, and the doctor told me to do less.

Rest more with your eyes. I often go to Uncle Lu's mansion to chat with some fellow villagers when I have nothing to do.

Meet old friends. They are frequent visitors to Lu Mansion. Some of them run factories, others run banks.

At home, civil servants, businessmen, and some are speculating in the exchange. From them

After listening to a lot, I saw the social phenomenon at that time more clearly. At that time,

It was Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan who fought on the Jin-Pu line, and the world economy was at stake.

When the plane reached Shanghai again. China's national industry and agriculture under the oppression of foreign capital.

Under the influence of village unrest and economic bankruptcy, it is facing a desperate situation. In order to pass on your own danger

Machines and capitalists have stepped up their exploitation of workers. The struggle of the working class is in the ascendant.

Ivy. Open the newspaper, full of economic depression, market depression, factory closures, workers

News of the strike. I often learn about Su Hong in the southern province from my friends.

The Israeli regime flourished, and the Red Army smashed Chiang Kai-shek's repeated military encirclement and suppression and gained prestige.

Increasing day by day. Peng Hongjun's capture of Changsha, in particular, greatly inspired people's hearts. this

Although the news was only a fragment, it encouraged me. At that time, I accumulated these materials, plus

Digest and write a novel with white cities and red villages.

Ideas.

During the summer and autumn of 1930, there was a heated discussion about the social nature of China.

Controversy is also closely related to determining the writing intention of my novel. at that time

The debater raised three arguments: First, China society is still semi-feudal and semi-colonial.

Society, representatives who overthrew imperial property rights, feudal forces, bureaucrats and comprador bourgeoisie.

Chiang Kai-shek's regime is the task of the current revolution led by the proletariat.

Level. This is a revolutionary view. Second, China embarked on the capitalist road.

The anti-imperialist and anti-feudal task should be undertaken by the China bourgeoisie. This is the Trotskyite view.

Point. Third, the national bourgeoisie in China can oppose both the * * * production party and the emperor.

Seek survival and development between nationalism and bureaucratic comprador class, and establish Europe and America.

Types of bourgeois regime. This is the view of some bourgeois scholars. I write this.

This novel answers Trotskyites and bourgeois scholars: China people with the expression of images.

China has no way to develop capitalism, and China is in the midst of imperialist and feudal forces.

And it is more semi-feudal and semi-colonial under the oppression of the bureaucratic comprador class. China

Although some national bourgeoisie, such as the French bourgeoisie's character, but a

1930 was a semi-colonial and semi-feudal China, which was different from18th century French.

The future of the national bourgeoisie in China is very bleak. They are weak and unstable. while

At that time, they had only two ways out: surrendering to imperialism, going to comprador, or

The feudal forces compromised.

I originally imagined that this urban-rural symphony would be divided into urban parts.

The urban part plans to write a trilogy, and the first draft has been written.

Outline.

The first kind is called cotton yarn. To be written by this department: 1. Taking advantage of the European War (that is, World War I)

World War II) When the major capitalist powers were too busy to look east, China's.

The national bourgeoisie has the hope of rising; Cotton yarn textile industry in textile industry temporarily

There are prospects for development. Second, while the early capitalist light industry flourished,

Bankruptcy in rural areas is accelerating; The oppression and exploitation of local warlords and the plunder of foreign goods.

The farmers who have been robbed can no longer live, and the price of yarn and cloth produced in China is higher than that of foreign goods.

Farmers can't afford it. Therefore, third, the germination of China's light industry was immediately affected by sunlight.

The competition for this yarn is on the verge of bankruptcy. Japan's textile industry is also taking advantage of the European war.

Those who make a lot of money will compete with the capital-rich textile industry in China at this time. this

Part of it is mainly the struggle between workers and capitalists, and the two strikes of workers have been capitalized.

The family was destroyed by division and deception, and the last time was more violent than the previous two.

Workers were wiped out by hooligans hired by capitalists. The part also has a profile description:

First, the surplus value produced by workers is quite large, but the whole family of nouveau riche factory owners have spent money.

Such as soil, so that factory owners increase the exploitation of workers, causing strikes. Second, the first blow

At that time, several other factories in China were incited by their running dogs because they wanted to lose a competitor.

Mobilize the workers in this factory to go on strike. But in the second strike, the instigators banded together to ban it.

The boss of this factory agreed to the workers' demands. The owner of this factory thinks it would be better to sell the factory to Japan.

I am still a rich man. At that time, I made a research plan: first, the internal team of the cotton mill.

Weaving and working conditions; Second, the situation of China cotton mill in the era of Japanese cotton mill competition; Third, God.

The way this factory competes. At the same time, I also read Zhou's China Textile.

Industry and its products (published by the Commercial Press). I also want to write about the personality of the owner of this factory.

Yes, it was ambitious at first. He said that India's national bourgeoisie developed after the European War.

It is also to engage in light industry first. India's independence movement is based on these national bourgeoisie.

Background. But after he became a nouveau riche, he became arrogant and extravagant, and suddenly he became a different person.

After the second strike in the factory, he borrowed money from foreign banks, but his brother stopped him. He said:

What is the ancestral heritage of the bourgeoisie in China? Accumulated for thousands of years

The existing forms of surplus labor force are dams, canals, the Great Wall of Wan Li and countless ancestral temples.

Temple. We are too tired to compete with foreigners, so we have to surrender.

The second part of the city is securities. The main points of this part are as follows: 1.

Bureaucrats, landlords and failed industrialists all use their accumulated capital to start banks.

Running an exchange has created a fortress (chaebol) of financial capital, which is China's turning to capital.

Erqi doctrine phenomenon. Second, the main business of these chaebols is to hook up with the government.

Settle accounts, make advances, underwrite bonds and make a fortune. Third, they absorb small ones in various ways.

The bourgeoisie saves and borrows money from foreign banks to advance money to the government, so he

On the one hand, they expand their economic power on behalf of foreigners, on the other hand, they safeguard their own land.

Fang warlord and traitorous government. Fourth, surplus capital is financial capital rather than production capital.

The form of profit represents the extreme depravity of the bourgeoisie in China.

The hero in this part comes from three aspects: first, usury in rural areas,

If the exchange succeeds in speculation and becomes rich, both kinds of people will become rich at the expense of their hometown.

Some people understand. Second, the old bureaucrats produced the essence of the exploited people and traded them on the exchange.

Active in. Three, cotton yarn factory boss brother. The three men set up a joint venture together.

The bank.

The synopsis of the story is this: On the opening day of the bank, there were shareholders of two banks.

Be fooled (by the exchange buying stocks).

Mrs. A and Mr. C, who lost everything, heard that their enemy had opened a bank, so they came here.

I can't find an enemy when I settle accounts, and I am persuaded by people in the bank to do good things and do bad things. bank

The younger brother of one of the shareholders, the owner of the cotton mill, is now the treasurer. He has met Mrs Jia's daughter.

Miss A is very beautiful, so she has a bad heart. He said that the bank is willing to accept Miss A as a staff member, which counts.

Is to compensate her mother and daughter for their previous losses. Since then, the treasurer has repeatedly tested A.

Miss, but it never works. Because Miss A's fiance, Mr. Ding, is studying electrical engineering in America.

Project, about to return to China. At a banquet, the treasurer was drunk by Miss Jia.

Get what you want. Afterwards, Miss A had a big fight with the chief shopkeeper, who said she would marry her.

Get up. Miss a is not allowed. The treasurer went on to say that because there is no such thing, just say it.

This is between you and me, and no third person knows it. On second thought, Miss Jia didn't.

Glory, bear it. Soon, her fiance, Mr. Ding, returned to China, but with the treasurer.

I recognized my middle school classmate. Mr. Ding and Miss Jia are discussing marriage. first

Miss didn't have the courage to tell Mr. Ding, so she had to get married. Mr. Ding is determined to start work.

The factory and IPO hit a wall everywhere, so we had to discuss with the chief financial officer and borrow money from the bank. CFO (Chief Financial Officer)

Not allowed, but it is suggested that Mr. Ding deposit the cash from the sale of the property in the bank. Mr. Ding is natural.

Refuse. Later, because I saw that the factory couldn't go on, I listened to the sweet words of the chief shopkeeper and bought the money.

An American stock. However, the new york stock market crash bankrupted him. Since then, this

A couple has gone crazy.

The third part of the city, "Jin Biao". The performance points are as follows: 1. Financial capital.

The family only works as an accounting firm for warlords, and cannot supervise China's industry. Second, legitimate international capital.

During the period of socialist decline, the bourgeoisie in China existed in the form of vassals of foreigners.

Now, there is no second way. Third, but the bourgeoisie in China is still lying, since.

Called the China bourgeoisie.

Structure of the story: 1. The low price of silver has created China's financial capital.

Profits and the collapse of industry and commerce. Second, China finance, which is completely the embodiment of the comprador class.

Capitalists are more depraved than businessmen. Three, committed to step up the exploitation of workers in China.

It is also difficult for entrepreneurs to survive.

The outline of this part is as follows: Mr. Gu was half-limbed thirty years ago,

Lying on the first floor, isolated from the world, only reciting "The Induction of the Emperor's Father" every day. Mr. Gu's eldest son is at

A match factory was established in Shanghai, where women and young children attended their father's home. In the eighteenth year of the Republic of China, because of bandits,

After ransacking the nearby towns, the eldest son rented a small steamboat to welcome Gu Kailai to Shanghai. Guxian

Born in a car, looking out, I saw cars, trams and bug buildings coming towards me. In modern times,

The tension and chaos in the city, as well as the bare arms and legs of young women in new fashion, all this makes the ancient

Mr. Wang was flustered and dizzy. He spread out the book "Induction of Thai Merchants" in his hand and wanted to recite it.

Calm your mind, but when you can't see it, your eldest son was given it by today's newspaper. Guxiansheng

I read the newspaper, but there is news about Huang Huiru's case. After reading it, he fainted in the car

, can't wake up from now on. The owner of the match factory has a cousin who is the first two parts of the yarn.

The younger brother of the factory owner is now the deputy manager of a bank, engaged in speculative business and giving advice to the match factory.

The boss might as well mortgage the match factory, get cash and do gold business, but the boss of the match factory didn't.

Ken. However, he didn't know that his wife used private savings to do gold business. Jindan

She lost everything when the price plummeted.

The match factory was tired of expensive raw materials (from abroad) because of the low price of gold and silver, and finally did not

Can be maintained, mortgaged to foreign banks, but still as a manager, speaking to factory workers, still since.

Known as the "domestic factory".

I originally planned to use the trilogy of cotton yarn, securities and standard gold as my new novel.

In the urban area, a man ran by, an old factory owner wearing cotton yarn.

Brother. But after writing the outline, I feel that this form is not ideal: it is a rural part.

Write a trilogy, too How does this urban trilogy cooperate with the rural trilogy?

Should? Wait, it's not easy. So I put the plan aside.

1 1 month transferred to the novella "Road" and returned to writing knowledge points.

The theme of children. But only halfway through, the eye disease broke out for the second time, more than this time.

The second time was more serious. An ophthalmologist who treated me when I had an eye attack last time, but this time it was tied.

There's nothing I can do. It's hard. There are also many ophthalmologists in Shanghai who treat me.

, is one of the best. There's nothing he can do, so who else can ask? lucky

Zheng Zhenduo introduced his compatriot Liu Yi, who recently came back from Japan to do business in Shanghai.

Item. He examined my eyes and said I was old, and now my eyelids are gone.

Abrasion is not the cause of this eye disease. The reason why this eye disease is strict

The weight is that the cornea of the right eye festers and becomes a small hole. The left eye has thick clouds from top to bottom.

Cover half the pupils. I'm a little flustered to hear that. I asked Liu what to do.

He said that the right eye is very easy to treat. As long as you inject your own serum, you can recover in a week or so.

The grid layer is more difficult to deal with, and it may take some time to eliminate it. The so-called ego

For those with serum, just take a little blood from me and mix it with medicine. The injection part is in

Right eye corner. I was surprised to hear that I had to have an injection in my eye, even in the corner of my eye.

But now, we have to do it. Dr. Liu drew my blood that day and told me the next day.

Go for an injection. I went home and told my mother and Dezhong. They were all shocked and said they had never heard of it.

You can have an injection in your eye. So, when I went the next day, Deyun went with me. Before the injection,

Liu told me to think about other things and not to take injections seriously. I close my eyes and think

It was written, and after a while, it said, I opened my eyes and I don't know when I noticed it.

It's finished. Liu asked me if I drank or smoked. I said no, but

Smoking a lot. Liu said, from now on, you can't smoke either. Take out another ointment,

He said he should put it on his eyes several times a day, then gently rub it a few times and gave him a small glass.

Tube, said ointment on the tube. What is the name of this ointment? I forgot, but I remember.

The name of the pharmaceutical factory is Lily. After returning home, Deyun said that the eyelid of the right eye and the corner of the left eye were also injected.

Praise the doctor's skill. It is not easy to inject into eyelids. Because Dr. Liu told me not to

I can read and write again, but I can't use my eyes, so my mother asked Dezhong to supervise me.

I go to see Dr. Liu every week. Two weeks later, the right eye has recovered.

Shape, but the left destination cloud remains unchanged. I am very patient with my illness. I don't read books or newspapers. That's what it is

Three months later, Liu said that the clouds on my left eye had also subsided. He said unexpectedly

To his surprise, I recovered so quickly. I said, this is because I strictly abide by yours.

The reason for teaching. Liu said that he can continue to use ointment every night before going to bed.

Once, until it runs out. I also teach.

During the three-month break, although my eyes are not used much, my brain is very busy.

Move it. I put aside the "road" for a while and returned to the urban-rural trilogy.

I decided to change my plan and write a novel centered on the city instead of a trilogy, that is, after that.

Midnight. The story of the old bird "Jin Biao" Section 1 Mr. Gu's half-limb madness and

I can't stand the excitement of the chaotic and stressful life in the city and have a stroke. Actually, it's not.

The match factory owner's father became Wu Sunfu's father. The loss of the match factory, etc.

And so on, but the factory owner is Zhou Zhongwei, and the character of this match factory owner is better than before.

Planning is much more complicated.

Secondly, I further studied the current economic situation in China at that time and decided to change cotton mills.

For the silk factory. Because, at that time, China's industry was mainly engaged in production and export, only

There are factory warp yarns (that is, machine-made silk) as early as Lyon, France and new york, USA.

It has gained a firm foothold, but at this time it gradually lost its position because of the competition from Japanese silk.

In these three months, I seem to have revisited the books I have read, and I visited the former Duke Lu.

The relatives in the same town who met and talked with them for a long time are old friends. As the saying goes, look back.

Zhixin, I revisited this old place. In their conversation, I know only one thing.

1930, the number of silk factories in Shanghai changed from 100 to 70. Wuxi silk factory

From seventy to forty. The difficulties of Guangdong Silk Factory are similar. that

Nine times out of ten, his silk factories in Suzhou, Zhenjiang, Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou closed down. Sichuan silk

Twenty or thirty factories closed down. This is the competition of Japanese silk in the international market.

Result. This has strengthened my belief that the silk factory is the main factory at midnight.

Heart. I know from the mouth of my old fellow villagers that China Match Factory was announced in 1929.

Bankruptcy, 9 in Jiangsu and Shanghai, 3 in Zhejiang, 3 in Hebei and 4 in Shanxi and Jilin.

Three, three in Liaoning and thirteen in Guangzhou. This strengthened my concern about domestic sales.

As a national industry in China, the firewood factory is competing with Japanese and Swedish counterparts in China.

A flimsy original plan. This is one of my efforts to describe Zhou Zhongwei and his factory.

The cause of the ultimate tragedy.

At the same time, I visited the silk factory and the match factory. This is my first time to write about enterprises.

Home, what kind of personality these entrepreneurs should write is quite hesitant. In the novel

I have a little experience in character description. This is the most familiar real person.

After comprehensive analysis, the recent typical personality is obtained. This original

Then, nature can also be used to shape the typical personality of entrepreneurs. Wu Sunfu's character is

This is how it was created; Wu is broken and enterprising, sometimes calm and sometimes furious.

Ray is strict with his servants, partly because of my opinion of Uncle Lu.

Cha, some of them come from other villagers engaged in industry. Zhou Zhongwei's character lies in books.

Arithmetic is another typical example, and I also created it by combining several people.

After I decided to rewrite this novel, I re-conceived and wrote a "Titi".

Come "and a simple outline, and continue writing after my eye disease is completely cured.

After "Road", a detailed chapter outline of about several volumes was written according to this outline.

Now these outlines are all lost, but the outlines have miraculously survived.

Come on! This "summary" is not too many words, so I will copy it below. Because it could be

Take a look at my original intention of writing Midnight.

Third,

As far as "Midnight" is concerned, what percentage can it be completed? So, specifically, it is simple as follows:

Midnight is set in the late spring and early summer of 1930. In this short time, there are several major events worth mentioning. First, the power struggle within the Kuomintang broke out again. Wang Jingwei, Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan, on the one hand, and Chiang Kai-shek, on the other, fought along the Jin-Pu Railway. Its scale and fierce battle situation created a record of the Kuomintang civil war. It goes without saying that ordinary people suffer, and industry and commerce are also hindered. Second, the European economic panic affected China's national industries at that time, and some light industries with export as their main business were severely hit and on the verge of bankruptcy. Third, the national bourgeoisie in China stepped up the exploitation of workers in order to save themselves. It has become a common phenomenon to increase working hours, reduce wages and dismiss workers, which has aroused fierce resistance from workers and a wave of strikes has arisen. Fourth, under the cruel oppression of Sanshan, farmers have started a prairie fire under the leadership of the * * * production party.

The original plan of Midnight is to reflect the whole picture of China's revolution in this period by comparing the revolutionary development in rural areas (where the revolutionary forces are flourishing) and cities (where the enemy forces are concentrated and thus stronger), and to strengthen the revolutionary optimism of the work. The fourth chapter of the novel is the foreshadowing. But such a big project was beyond the author's ability at that time, so he had to give up after writing it. And reluctant to write the fourth chapter, let it become a free part of the book. At the same time, just writing about the urban workers' movement can no longer represent the mainstream of the revolution at that time. At that time, under the wrong guidance of Li's line, although the urban workers' movement was huge, the enemy panicked and the revolutionary forces suffered great losses, which made the atmosphere of the novel tragic, but generally bleak, and did not show the great spirit of China's revolution and the prospect of inevitable victory in the end.

This novel criticizes Li San's line, but it doesn't go deep. Nor does it describe the struggle of underground party member against Li San's line at that time.

All the above are related to the author's life experience at that time.

This book is written from three aspects: comprador bourgeoisie, national bourgeoisie, revolutionary activists and working people. Of the three, the first two are the author's contact with him, his familiarity with and true observation of him and his affairs; The latter only relies on "second-hand" materials, that is, the dictation of the parties, the people involved and even the third party. The source of this theme makes the part describing comprador bourgeoisie and national bourgeoisie in the novel more vivid and true, while the part describing revolutionary activists and working people is much worse. As for the development of rural revolutionary forces, even "second-hand" materials are scarce, and I don't want to make fiction a mess, so I have to stop writing.

That's why I call this book "paraplegia".

There is another problem that cannot be ignored: the writing intention of this novel is related to the heated debate on the social nature of China at that time. At that time, people who participated in the debate generally put forward three arguments: first, China society is still semi-feudal and semi-colonial; It is the task of the current revolution to overthrow the fascist regime of the Kuomintang (representing the interests of imperialism, big landlords and bureaucratic comprador bourgeoisie); Workers and peasants are the main force of the revolution; Revolutionary leadership must be in the hands of the * * * production party, which is revolutionary. Second, I think that China has embarked on the capitalist road, and the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal tasks should be undertaken by the China bourgeoisie. This is Trotsky. Thirdly, it is believed that China's national bourgeoisie can survive and develop between the national democratic revolutionary movement led by the opposition to the * * * production party and the bureaucratic comprador bourgeoisie, thus establishing a European-American-style bourgeois regime. This was the argument of some bourgeois scholars who claimed to be progressive at that time. Midnight finally became a comprador through Wu Sunfu and his gang, which strongly refuted the fallacies of the latter two factions. At this point, the writing intention and practice of Midnight are relatively close.

Of course, there are still many shortcomings and mistakes in Midnight, and readers know it, so I won't go into details here.

October 9, 1977

Mao Dun recorded in Beijing