Ma Shitu

Ma Shitu (1915–2024), originally named Ma Qianmu, was born in Zhongxian, Sichuan. He was a modern Chinese writer, poet and calligrapher. A lifelong writer, he drew much of his material from his own experience and from the changes of his times, working across social fiction, documentary literature and essays. Works such as Finding the Red Army and Underground are set against the underground struggles of the revolutionary era; plainly and forcefully told, they combine a documentary quality with literary power. Ma Shitu on Art collects his essays on literature and art, revealing his insight and style. His better-known works include Qingjiang Heroic Song, Ten Tales of Night Talk and Ten Years of Vicissitudes, and one of them, The Unofficial Magistrate, was adapted into the film Let the Bullets Fly. He served as chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles and honorary chairman of the Sichuan Writers Association, and was known, together with Ba Jin, Sha Ting and Ai Wu, as one of the Five Elders of Sichuan.