Creation_Society

Creation Society
Originally founded on June 8th, 1921 in Tokyo by Guo Moruo, Zhang Ziping, Tian Han and others. The group was interested in the creation of a purely literary magazine. From this meeting came the monthly journal //Creation// (Chuangzao), first published May 1922. The first publication had Guo Moruo's Nushen which was already quite well renowned and was the first title in the Creation Society Series. The early ideology of the Creation Society was uninhibited expression and they rallied around the slogan "art for art's sake." Although originally formed in Japan the creation society quickly gained a large following in Shanghai. The travels of various key members of the group such as Guo Moruo, Yu Dafu, Tian Han and Cheng Fangwu always included Shanghai. The Creation Society quickly became engaged in a literary battle with the Literary Association. From this Guo Moruo stated in the second quarterly that the Creation Society should have no uniform doctrine and no written charter was to be adopted. The reasoning for these two points was to allow for creativity and artistic freedom amongst the Creation Society's ranks.

The Creation Society was initially very concerned with supporting the New Culture Movement and so Yu Dafu worked in Shanghai to gather support for both the publication and the movement. The society also started a weekly version of the //Creation// in Shanghai starting May 1923. The publication instantly became popular amongst college students throughout Shanghai. The Creation Society was also the first journal in China to adopt horizontal printing. However in 1924 the Creation Society was forced to stop all publications for financial reasons. Shortly thereafter a variety of other journals and publications supported by various Creation Society members started up, the most prominent of which was the //Deluge//. This signaled the reemergence of the Creation Society and at this time its focus shifted from literary revolution to a more political focus. From March 1926 to January 1929 both the //Deluge// and a new //Creation Monthly// were printed. With a strong emphasis on leftist works the magazines gained a significant following before being shut down by the Nationalist Government. The Creation Societies publications were blacklisted and their equipment seized in 1929 by Nationalist police forces and by 1930 all of their publications had ceased. In 1930 the Creation Society cemented its alliance with League of Left Wing Writers and joined their ranks. This would eventually lead to to contention between the two groups as Lu Xun and his supporters didn't always agree with Creationist ideals.

Hockx, Michel, and Kirk A. Denton. //Literary Societies of Republican China//. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008. Print.
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