Chapter 2 2. Surprise

At the end of February 1952, Ding Ling and Cao Yu were appointed by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles to go to the Soviet Union to participate in the commemoration of the centenary of Gogol's death.This is already her fourth visit to the Soviet Union. The two of them left Beijing by plane at 7:00 a.m. on February 27, and stayed overnight in Irkutsk and Omsk in the Soviet Union on the way. They arrived in Moscow at 2:00 p.m. on the 29th and checked into the Savoy Hotel. On the afternoon of March 2, they participated in the unveiling ceremony of the bronze statue of Gogol. On the morning of the 3rd, they paid homage to Gogol’s tomb. The world made a speech on "Gogol--A Cultural Giant Precious to Progressive Mankind".These are the main agenda of the commemorative activities.In the rest of the time, they went to visit museums during the day, wandering among the precious manuscripts and photos of Gorky, Tolstoy, Mayakovsky and other celebrities. Madame Butterfly, Faust, Fountain of Tears and other operas, dramas and ballets, and watched an adaptation of Wang Shifu's original work by the Moscow Satire Theater.In her spare time, Ding Ling often went to the Chinese embassy in the Soviet Union to chat with Ambassador Zhang Wentian. They were old friends for more than 20 years. Jiangxi Central Soviet Area.A few days later, the Central Propaganda Minister Zhang Wentian, who had just returned from the Soviet Union, met her in Zhaofeng Park and told her to wait for news.But the final decision was for Ding Ling to stay in Shanghai and become the editor-in-chief of the Left Federation's publication Beidou.This time when she came to the Soviet Union, Ding Ling brought Zhang Wentian some oranges from China.They talked about the past, about acquaintances, about Shanghai in the 1930s and Yan'an in the 1940s, and about Ding Ling's previous visits to the Soviet Union. The ambassador praised Ding Ling's essays on the visit to the Soviet Union, saying It shows the spirit of internationalism.

On the evening of March 13, the radio broadcasted the decision of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union on awarding the Stalin Prize for Literature and Art to those who had outstanding achievements in literature and art in 1951. Three Chinese works won the prize: Ding Ling’s novel won the second prize, He Jingzhi, Ding Ling The opera "The White-haired Girl" written by Yi won the second prize, and Zhou Libo's novel "The Tempest" won the third prize.This is not only a great encouragement from the Soviet literary circles to the Chinese literary circles, but also an expression of friendship from the Soviet government to the Chinese government and the Chinese people.This is the first time that a literary work of New China has won an award abroad, so it is of great significance.

In the early morning of the next day, Ge Baoquan, the cultural counselor of the Chinese embassy, ​​called to congratulate Ding Ling, and then Cao Yu, Lanskoy, and Mongolian writer Dan Jingsilong also came to congratulate.Ding Ling was once again invited to Radio Moscow to give a two-minute radio speech.In an interview with a Soviet reporter, she said: "After the Soviet Union was translated, 500,000 popular copies were printed, and I received encouragement from all sides. Now I am honored by the Soviet Council of Ministers to award Stalin with a prize. This honor is given to all Chinese writers. and the Chinese people. This is an encouragement to all Chinese people and writers."

In April, Ding Ling returned to Beijing. On June 7, the Soviet ambassador to China Roshchen presented the Stalin Prize for Literature and Art to Ding Ling, He Jingzhi, Ding Yi and Zhou Libo.The next day, the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles held a celebration party. Ding Ling announced at the meeting that she would donate all the prize money of 50,000 rubles to the All-China Women's Federation Child Welfare Committee. Ding Ling became even more "popular". Invitations to various social activities at lecture meetings and dinner parties continued. Sometimes the correspondent sent two or three invitations a day. Ding Ling had no time to attend, and most of them declined.Xia Gengqi, a civil servant, saw that those invitations with gold lettering were really beautiful, so he collected them and made a thick stack.

Winning the award is the peak of Ding Ling's literary creation in her life and the highest honor she has received as a writer. It has brought Ding Ling certificates, bonuses and great prestige. She has become a real cultural celebrity, not only in China, but also in China. In the "socialist camp", there were as many as 12 countries in this camp at the time.The degree and scope of influence of this honor surpassed the sum of all those official titles on Ding Ling's head. Probably it was from then on that she made up her mind: get rid of officialdom, go down to life, go back to the study, get rid of official career, and return to the road of literary creation.If this assumption is true, then winning the award will determine Ding Ling's future life path and the rest of her life.