Playwright and screenwriter who led left-wing film-making in 1930s Shanghai. His report 包身工 on girl labourers in the cotton mills is a school text, and he wrote the film of 鲁迅's 祝福 (New Year's Sacrifice).
Xia Yan was one of the founding figures of modern Chinese theater and film.
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history
In 1930 he helped set up the 中国左翼作家联盟 (League of Left-Wing Writers), and from 1954 he was vice minister of culture in charge of film. In the Cultural Revolution he spent eight years in prison.
