Tsang Ko-Chia

Born 1905 in Chuch’eng, Shantung Province. Chinese writer.

Tsang graduated from the University of Shantung in 1934. During the Chinese people’s national liberation war against the Japanese invaders (1937–45) he served at the front in a brigade of cultural workers. In 1956 he was elected secretary of the Chinese Writers’ Union. From 1957 to 1966 and since 1976 he has been editor of the journal Shih-k’an.

Tsang’s first poetry collection, The Brand (1934), describes peasant life and nature. The collection Black Hands of the Criminal (1934) depicts poverty-stricken workers and cruel, hypocritical missionaries. Tsang extolled the heroes of the national liberation war in the collections Marching Songs (1939) and The Swamp (1939). In the collection Moans on the Huai Ho (1940) he portrayed the disastrous effects of a flood on the people. Tsang is also the author of the collections Zero Degrees of Life (1947) and The New Star (1958), as well as the critical work Studying Problems of Literature (1955).