Qian Xingcun, also known by the pen name A Ying (阿英), was a Chinese literary critic, author, and screenwriter. Born in Wuhu, Anhui, Qian moved to Shanghai in 1918 to attend the Shanghai Zhonghua Industrial College. Following the May Fourth Movement, he began writing extensively as a member of the leftist Sun Society and League of Left-Wing Writers; he also joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1926. He penned several screenplays for the Mingxing Film Company in the 1930s as well as reviews of contemporary Chinese literature, which were followed during the Second Sino-Japanese War by anti-Japanese periodicals and stage plays. Having occupied prominent positions in the People's Republic of China since its establishment, he was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution.
