Song Yunbin

Song Yunbin (; August 16, 1897 – April 17, 1979), courtesy name Peiping and also known by the pen names Song Peiwei and Wuwo, was a Chinese historian, literary scholar, essayist, editor, educator, and politician. A native of Xiashi, Haining, Zhejiang, he was known for his scholarship on Chinese intellectual and literary history, his editorial work in modern Chinese publishing, and his political activities within the China Democratic League. He served as Chairman of the Zhejiang Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Curator of the Zhejiang Institute of Culture and History, and Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Zhejiang Committee. During the Anti-Rightist Campaign in 1957, he was designated a "rightist," but was politically rehabilitated shortly before his death in 1979.

Biography

Song was born on August 16, 1897, in Xiashi, Haining, Zhejiang. He entered Hangzhou Middle School in 1912 and came under the influence of the New Culture Movement following the May Fourth Movement. Beginning in November 1921, he worked successively as an editor and chief editorial writer for Hangzhou Bao, Zhejiang Minbao, and Xin Zhejiang Bao. In August 1924, he joined the Chinese Communist Party. During the period of the First United Front, he participated in organizing the Kuomintang organization in Haining and became a member of its executive committee. In late 1925, he helped organize the Dongshan Conference in Zhejiang, which publicly opposed the conservative Western Hills Group within the Kuomintang.

In 1926, Song became director of the Shanghai National News Agency before moving to Guangzhou, where he served as chief of the Editorial Section of the Political Department at the Whampoa Military Academy and edited the academy's newspaper. In 1927, he moved to Wuhan as an editor of the Minguo Ribao while simultaneously serving as secretary to the Ministry of Labor of the Wuhan Nationalist Government. After the Shanghai massacre of April 1927, he was wanted by the Nationalist authorities and fled Wuhan together with Mao Dun. He subsequently lived in Shanghai, working for the Commercial Press on the collation and annotation of classical Chinese texts, during which time he lost contact with the Communist Party.

From 1928 onward, Song worked for Kaiming Bookstore, where he supervised the editing and proofreading of the comprehensive dictionary Citong (《辞通》), compiled by Zhu Qifeng. He later edited Chinese-language textbooks and served as editor-in-chief of Middle School Student (《中学生》), one of the most influential educational magazines in Republican China. In 1936, he joined the China National Salvation Association.

Following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Song initially returned to his hometown before joining the Political Department of the National Military Council, directed by Guo Moruo, in Wuhan. After Wuhan fell to Japanese forces, he relocated to Guilin, where he worked for the Cultural Supply Society, co-edited the literary magazine Wild Grass (《野草》) with Xia Yan, and taught at Guilin Normal College.

In June 1945, Song joined the China Democratic League. After the Surrender of Japan, he moved to Chongqing, where he worked for Advanced Studies Publishing House and edited the League's weekly publication Democratic Life (《民主生活》). In 1947, he relocated to Hong Kong, becoming editor-in-chief of the Cultural Supply Society while editing the Youth Weekly supplement of Wen Wei Po. He also taught at Dade College and compiled Chinese-language textbooks for overseas Chinese schools in Southeast Asia.

In the spring of 1949, Song traveled to Beijing to participate in the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He was appointed a member of the Textbook Editorial Committee of the Education Department of the North China People's Government. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, he successively served in the General Administration of Publication and the People's Education Press, where he became deputy editor-in-chief.

In 1951, Song returned to Zhejiang and was appointed a member of the Zhejiang People's Government, Curator of the Zhejiang Institute of Culture and History, Director of the provincial Sports Commission, Vice Chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Chairman of the Zhejiang Federation of Literary and Art Circles. He was also elected a deputy to the 1st National People's Congress and served as a member of the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th National Committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He became a member of the Central Committee of the China Democratic League and joined the China Writers Association in 1952, later serving as one of its council members.

During the Anti-Rightist Campaign in 1957, Song was falsely labeled a rightist and removed from his leading positions. The following year, he was transferred to Zhonghua Book Company, where he participated in the modern punctuated and annotated edition of the Twenty-Four Histories. He also taught classical bibliography and textual criticism at Peking University.

In February 1979, the official verdict against Song during the Anti-Rightist Campaign was overturned, restoring his political reputation. He died in Beijing on April 17, 1979, at the age of 81.

Works

Song's major published works include:

• Religion in the Eastern Han Dynasty (《东汉之宗教》)
• Wang Shouren and Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming Dynasties (《王守仁与宋明理学》)
• History of Ming Literature (《明文学史》)