Personnel Appointments | Who Can Serve as the Chairman of Provincial Literary and Art Federations

Another Renowned Writer Elected as Provincial Literary Federation Chairman
On the morning of November 21, the first plenary session of the 9th Committee of the Henan Provincial Literary and Art Federation was held. Liu Zhenyun was elected as the chairman of the 9th Henan Provincial Literary and Art Federation through a secret ballot, according to a report from the WeChat public account “Henan Daily”.
Liu Zhenyun, born in 1958 in Yanjin County, Henan Province, is a member of the Communist Party of China. He served in the military from 1973 to 1978 and studied at the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University from 1978 to 1982. In 1991, he graduated from the graduate program of Lu Xun Literary Institute of Beijing Normal University.
He is the author of numerous novels such as “Hometown’s Yellow Flowers Bloom Everywhere”, “Hometown Legends”, “Hometown’s Faces and Flowers” (four volumes), “A Bunch of Nonsense”, “Cell Phone”, “My Name is Liu Yuejin”, and “One Sentence Is Worth Ten Thousand”, as well as short and medium-length stories like “Tapu”, “New Recruit Training”, “The Unit”, “A Trifle”, and “Remembrance of 1942”. Among them, “One Sentence Is Worth Ten Thousand” won the Mao Dun Literature Award.
The Henan Provincial Literary and Art Federation, also known as the Henan Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, is a joint organization of various provincial-level literary and art associations, city-level literary and art federations under provincial jurisdiction, county-level literary and art federations under direct provincial administration, industry-specific literary and art federations, and literary and art federations of large enterprises in Henan Province. It is a group member of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and was officially established in April 1954.
Previously, female writer Shao Li held the position of chairman of the Henan Provincial Literary and Art Federation.
Who is eligible to serve as the chairman of a provincial literary and art federation? Let’s first understand the institution of the “literary and art federation”.
The China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC), fully known as the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, is a people’s organization led by the Communist Party of China, composed of nationwide literary and art associations, provincial, autonomous region, and municipality literary and art federations, and nationwide industrial literary and art federations. It serves as a bridge and link between the party and government and the literary and art circles, and is an important force in promoting the prosperous development of socialist literary and art undertakings and building a socialist cultural power. It was established in July 1949, on the eve of the founding of New China, and is one of the initiating units of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
The CFLAC currently has 55 group members, and its current chairman is the renowned writer Tie Ning.
The chairman of a provincial literary and art federation is usually a well-known figure in the literary and art field with high reputation and influence within the province.
For example, the chairmen of the literary and art federations in Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Shandong provinces are all renowned painters. Among them, Xu Jiang, the current chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Literary and Art Federation, was born in Fuzhou, Fujian Province in 1955. He is a contemporary Chinese oil painter and educator who graduated from the Oil Painting Department of China Academy of Art in 1982. He served as the president of China Academy of Art from 2001 to 2020, making him the longest-serving president in the school’s history. He also serves as a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and vice chairman of the CFLAC.
In the field of drama, the renowned actress Xi Meijuan serves as the vice chairman of the CFLAC and the chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Literary and Art Federation. Born in Shanghai in 1955, Xi Meijuan starred in China’s first impressionistic drama “Chinese Dream” in 1988 and won the China Theatre Plum Blossom Award. In 1990, she participated in her first film “A Woman’s True Feelings” and won the Best Actress Award at the 11th Golden Rooster Award. In 2004, she won the Most Popular TV Actress Award at the 5th China Golden Eagle TV Art Festival for her role in “Zhuang Making”. In 2017, she received the Outstanding Achievement Award of the Year at the 13th Sino-US Film Festival, among other honors.
Yang Jun, a national first-class performer and one of the “Five Golden Flowers” of Huangmei Opera, serves as the chairman of the Hubei Provincial Literary and Art Federation.
Ge Shuiping, who is also a writer like Liu Zhenyun, currently serves as the chairman of the Shanxi Provincial Literary and Art Federation. Born in September 1965 in Qinshui County, Shanxi Province, Ge Shuiping is a professor at the School of Literature of Shanxi University, a cultural master designated by the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the “Four Batches of Talents” program, and an expert receiving special allowances from the State Council. She has published multiple poetry collections, a prose collection titled “Walking of the Soul”, and medium-length novels such as “Whip Cracking”, “Earth’s Breath”, “Heaven’s Mourning”, “Dog Dog Dog”, and “Calling the Mountain”. Among them, the medium-length novel “Calling the Mountain” won the 4th Lu Xun Literature Award. Her screenwriting works include the TV series “Dragon and Tiger on High Mountain Tops” and “The Ordinary World”.
Additionally, the renowned musician and Honorary Chairman of the China Musicians Association, Zhao Jiping, currently serves as the chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Literary and Art Federation. Born in August 1945, Zhao Jiping is a delegate to the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a delegate to the 11th, 12th, and 13th National People’s Congress, an expert with outstanding contributions designated by the State Council, and an advanced worker in the national cultural system. He has composed a large number of musical works with a wide range of themes and genres, including symphonies, national orchestral music, symphonic poems, concertos, chamber music, dance dramas, and art songs, and has composed music for over a hundred films and TV series. He has twice won the Best Composer Award at the Golden Rooster Award, four times won the Golden Eagle Award and Flying Apsaras Award, and received honors such as the Best Music Award at the Nantes International Film Festival, the 20th Century Chinese Classic Works Award, the “Five-One Project” Works Award, the Special Achievement Award for Contemporary Chinese Film Music, and the China Gold Record Award – Jury’s Artistic Achievement Award.