Britannica Sources used in this answer

How did Wang Meng and Bai Hua challenge earlier literary restrictions after the Cultural Revolution?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Scene from Romance of the Three Kingdoms — Chinese literature *Zhang Fei on the Long Sloped Bridge Turning Away One Million Wei Troops with a Powerful Stare*, woodblock colour print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1884. It depicts a scene from the novel *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*.

Following the Cultural Revolution, Chinese literature moved away from the rigid constraints of state-mandated Socialist Realism, which had previously required writers to depict society as it should be rather than as it was.1

Wang Meng and Bai Hua were instrumental in this shift toward more professional and daring creative expression. Wang Meng challenged earlier restrictions by incorporating stylistic experiments, most notably the use of stream of consciousness, which broke from the traditional, politically subservient narrative forms. Bai Hua similarly pushed boundaries by producing works that featured sharp political criticism of the preceding 20 years, directly confronting the ideological history that had previously stifled artistic freedom.2

Their work, alongside the emergence of "scar literature" and other innovative movements, reflected a broader post-Cultural Revolution environment where writers began to test new limits, despite the ongoing tension between cultural liberals and orthodox officials.23