呂赫若, The Forgotten Taiwanese Writer

A myth, a legend, a writer, a communist, a leftist, a Japanese sympathizer, but a normal human being, like you and me. Whatever you may call him, 呂赫若 is a more or less forgotten figure in Taiwanese literature. And because of the time period he found himself in (Japanese Colonization, New Cultural Movement, the emergence of Communism, and a tragic death), he became a very important historical literary figure.

Introduction

Who is 呂赫若? Born in Taichung in 1914, he only lived a short life of 36 years and died a tragedy. His real name is 呂石堆; 呂赫若 is just his pen name, inspired from the Japanese characters “赫若” (a famous young person).

Looking at his birth date, it’s no doubt that he was brought up under Japanese colonization in Taiwan, which we discussed here. As a result, he doesn’t write in Mandarin. Most of his works were written in Japanese and then translated into Mandarin way after his death. And because of Japanese colonization, 呂赫若 experienced and observed events happening in these times. Like most other famous literary figures such as 魯迅 and 胡適, 呂赫若 goes for a similar writing style – describing an event and implicitly expanding the narrative into a larger social/national scale.

To really understand this, we need to shift our focus from Taiwan to then newly formed China in 1919. The May Fourth Movement, which students protested about imperialism and fought for national unity, opened up a longer, more impactful movement – the New Cultural Movement, which lasted for decades. The New Cultural Movement argued for a unified national identity (as opposed to the lack of unity in then-China). Authors write in Standard Mandarin rather than ancient Chinese (a very hard “language” to understand even as a native Mandarin speaker); some write about events that happened during this time to implicitly criticize a party; and others write prose, poems, etc.. In general, this movement is the literary equivalent of the “Golden Age” in 1911-1949 mainland China. So, back in Taiwan, some aspiring people caught wind of this huge movement and also participated in producing literature. Keep in mind that during that period, the Japanese are generally more relaxed (compared to the military occupation and suppression from 1895 to the 1910s). That is partly why this new emergence of New Culture literature was able to be preserved fairly well in Taiwan, especially when some of the literature contains criticism towards the Japanese.

Back to 呂赫若. Probably influenced by this movement, he, too, adapted this writing style. It is pretty easy to spot this style when it is compared with other same-period writers.

Also, 呂赫若 is very handsome-looking and a multi-talented individual in the arts, but we will focus more on his literary and political impact in this post.

Short Stories

Let’s just talk about the more prominent ones 呂赫若 wrote. Let’s also add some history on the way.

Winter Night

It is written from a third-person perspective. The main protagonist Caifeng lives a hard life with his family, but her mother is a gambling addict, and often spent most of their savings on gambling. It was also situated in wartime, which makes their time even harder. After the war, huge inflation occurred partly because of extremely poor economic decisions made by the newly appointed governor Chen Yi (like exporting too much rice to the mainland to support the army during the 1946 – 1949 Civil War between the KMT and the CCP), which, again, made their lives very difficult.

During WWII, Caifeng got married. However, her first husband was conscripted for war and disappeared during a conquest. With a family to carry, Caifeng resolved to a job at the bar. In an unfortunate turn of events, Caifeng married a wealthy but manipulative man, who claims that he will “protect” her but immediately abandoned her when he was infected with STD even though it was not her fault. After this abandonment, Caifeng resolved to a job at the bar again, but she also sold her innocence to the customers there (prostitution).

Notice the role of women played in this short story. Women in traditional Chinese society/family structure don’t have much authority, and in many places, prostitution was part of a desperate attempt for women to make a living. However, it’s because of this scene that makes the short story impactful. Of course, there are other tragedies, such as the second husband, which can be interpreted as the arrival of the KMT government after WWII. To the Taiwanese’s disappointment, the KMT did a bad job at maintaining Taiwan during the post-war period – Inflation, suppression, raids and lootings, and last but not least, the 228 Incident. What the KMT did afterwards will be a topic for another post. The KMT claimed they will protect Taiwan, but Taiwanese would love to object that statement. There was a saying in Taiwan during post-war KMT occupation: “The dogs left; now here come the pigs.” Although it is a very derogatory comparison (the dogs as Japanese, and the pigs as KMT and mainlanders), it still reflected the general feeling regarding post-war KMT occupation.

Magnolia

Now Magnolia here paints another picture. As opposed to the harsh environment and people, Magnolia portrays a calm childhood of the protagonist, written in a first-person perspective.

Recall that Japanese colonization in Taiwan is rather suppressive in terms of freedom of speech, and the Japanese are trying to promote their education to assimilate Taiwanese into thinking that they are part of the Japanese Empire. However, Japan itself is going through a wave of political liberalization (which is quite an interesting theme during the 1910s throughout the globe; we have the New Cultural Movement in China, the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, and the emergence of Japan political liberalization). As a result, there are some aspiring liberal young scholars. The protagonist’s father brought one of those young scholars back with him to live with the family.

The protagonist is initially very afraid of the new guest, because he was taught that Japanese are cruel and brutal people. As they get to interact more and more with each other, the protagonist realizes that the guest isn’t like what he thought Japanese would be.

This is a typical call for peace between the Japanese and the Taiwanese. 呂赫若 wants to use this opportunity to express the possibility that there can be peaceful relationships between the colonizers and the colonized. However, as history would tell, this wouldn’t be the case during the WWII era, when Japan tightened its control on Taiwan.

Communism

The voice of communism was created by Marx and Engel in the 19th century. This idealism made its way to 1917 and sparked a huge revolution in Russia. This idealism would then make its way to China, leading to the creation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921 and their ascension to power in 1949. The wave of communism reached the US and sparked the Red Scare and McCarthyism. Not surprisingly, Taiwan also got influenced by communism. The Taiwanese Communist Party (TCP) was founded in 1928. However, under the Japanese administration, the party was swiftly disbanded, and members of the party were captured and jailed in 1931.

The TCP was one of the cultural movements that emerged during Japanese colonization. It is a leftist community who promotes the independence of Taiwan and the creation of the Taiwan Republic. Of course, like the in-fights within the Bolshevik (Stalin) and within the CCP, the TCP also met the same fate, which accelerated their disbandment. After the disbandment, some TCP members joined the CCP. 呂赫若, although not a member of the TCP, after a left shift in political ideology and the 228 Incident, joined the CCP in 1947. He is one of the editorial members of a prominent underground communist paper 《光明報》and participated in the spread of communist ideology in Taiwan.

A Tragic End

I want to emphasize that unlike mainland China, TCP is under Japanese colonization. As a result, there is more control and suppression in Taiwanese society. The 1931 crackdown of the TCP is one of the examples of suppression. And the 1951 crackdown in Keelong City is the one where 呂赫若 met his demise.

During this crackdown, the newspaper staffs and officers were all captured and jailed. 呂赫若 escaped. He escaped to a place called 鹿窟 to continue his communism pursuit. After that, he was nowhere to be found. There are different theories surrounding his death. One theory suggests that he was bitten by a venomous snake and died 8.5 days after the bite. Another theory suggests that one of his partners shot him in fear of his betrayal. The first theory is listed in the official documents. However, his body was never found.

And after his death in 1951, we found ourselves in the period of KMT occupation in Taiwan. From the start of Japanese colonization, going through Japan’s political liberalization, the communist and the New Cultural Movement wave of influence, the birth and death of the TCP, the beginning and the end of WWII, and the eventual arrival of KMT (Kuomintang) troops and the ROC (Republic of China, as opposed to the PRC, or Communist China) government, 呂赫若 wrote so many articles, essays, and short stories, which reflect an era of Taiwan, an era where Taiwanese were trying to find themselves an identity, an era where Taiwanese were struggling with Japanese and KMT occupation, and an era that will be succeeded by decades of authoritarian Martial Law rule under Chiang Kai-shek.

Further Readings

There are many more Taiwanese writers that were born and educated under Japanese occupation. Some ended up like our tragic protagonist 呂赫若, while some ended up alive and well and continued their writings under KMT domination.

For more about Taiwanese authors (The link will bring you to the Chinese article, but English translations are available unless stated otherwise):

1. 賴和 – Wikipedia Article
2. 鍾理和 – Wikipedia Article
3. 呂赫若 – Wikipedia Article (English translation unavailable)
4. 楊逵 – Wikipedia Article

For more about background information (in English):

1. The May Fourth Movement – Wikipedia Article
2. The New Cultural Movement – Wikipedia Article
3. The TCP and the CCP – Wikipedia Articles
4. Japanese Colonization in Taiwan – Wikipedia Article

For the links above, the Chinese version is usually more detailed.