Shen Dehong (Shen Yanbing; 4 July 1896 – 27 March 1981), known by the pen name of Mao Dun, was a Chinese essayist, journalist, novelist, and playwright. Mao Dun, as a 20th-century Chinese novelist, literary and cultural critic, and Minister of Culture (1949–65), was one of the most celebrated left-wing realist novelists of modern China. His most famous work is Midnight (子夜), a novel depicting life in cosmopolitan Shanghai. It is also considered to be the work with the greatest influence on his future writing. Furthermore, during the period in which he was writing Midnight, Mao Dun formed a strong friendship with another of China's most famous writers, Lu Xun. Mao Dun also worked in genres other than novels, such as essays, script-writing, theories, short stories, and novellas. He was well known for translating western literature, as he had gained academic knowledge of European literature from his studies at Peking University in 1913. Additionally, although he was not the first person in China to translate the works of Scottish historical novelist Walter Scott, he is considered to be the first person to popularize Walter Scott's work in China through his "Critical Biography". He adopted the pen name "Mao Dun" () to express the tension in the conflicting revolutionary ideology within China in the 1920s. The name means "contradiction", as Mao means spears and Dun means shields. His friend Ye Shengtao changed the first character from to , which literally means "thatch". Early life His father, Shen Yongxi () taught and designed the curriculum for his son, but he died when Mao Dun was ten. Mao Dun's mother Chen Aizhu () then became his teacher. He mentions in his memoirs that "my first instructor is my mother". Through learning from his parents, Mao Dun developed great interest in writing as well as reading during his childhood. Mao Dun had already started to develop his writing skills when he was still in primary school. In one examination the examiner commented on Mao Dun's script: '12 year old young child, can make this language, not says motherland nobody'. There were other similar comments which indicate that Mao Dun had been a brilliant writer since his youth. While Mao Dun was studying in secondary school in Hangzhou, extensive reading and strict writing skills training filled his life. He read the Wen Xuan, Shishuo Xinyu, and a large number of classical novels, which influenced his