Ｂｉｒｔｈ Ｃｅｎｔｅｎａｒｙ ｏｆ Ｓｏｖｉｅｔ Ｗｒｉｔｅｒ Ｎ． Ｏｓｔｒｏｖｓｋｉｉ Ｃｏｍｍｅｍｏｒａｔｅｄ

The centenary of the birth of well-known Soviet writer Nikolai Ostrovskii fell on September 29 this year. His novel How the Steel Was Tempered is known to every household in China. The heroic deeds of the protagonist in the novel Pavel Korchagin have educated and influenced generation after generation of Chinese youth.

The literary works of Nikolai Ostrovskii have great impact in China. The publication of the Chinese version of How the Steel Was Tempered in the 1940s gained immediate popularity among the Chinese youth who were fighting heroically for the liberation of their country. The book accompanied them in their struggle to win final victory under extremely arduous conditions.

The CPAFFC and the China-Russia Friendship Association (CRFA) jointly sponsored a meeting on September 21 to commemorate this writer who has tremendous influence in China. Attending the meeting were Su Guang， vice president of the CPAFFC， the CRFA and the China-Ukraine Friendship Association， Liu Shu， vice president of the CRFA and former vice president of the China Association for Science and Technology， Gao Mang， council member of the CRFA， well-known translator of Russian literature and painter， Kang Ling， secretary of the Branch of the Chinese Communist Youth League of the Ostrovskii Class in the Girls Middle School Attached to Beijing Normal University， member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee and former member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women’s Federation， Sun Guiying， former monitor of the Pavel Class of the Beijing No. 2 Girls Middle School and professor of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences， Mei Yan， daughter of Mei Yi， well-known translator of the book How the Steel Was Tempered. Yuri A. Metelev， counsellor of the Russian Embassy in China and Petro Lenskyi， first secretary of the Ukrainian Embassy in China were present upon invitation.

Also present at the meeting were leaders of the Chinese Writers’ Association， the Branch of Former Soviet Union of the Western Returned Scholars Association， the People’s Literature Publishing House， Russian Literature and Art， China National Drama Theatre and Huaxia Publishing House under China Disabled Persons’ Federation， student and teacher representatives of Beijing Normal University， Beijing Dongzhimen Middle School， reporters from the capital and CRFA council members.

At the meeting， CPAFFC Vice President Su Guang read out the speech by CPAFFC President Chen Haosu. Counsellor Metelev， CRFA Council Member Gao Mang， Professor Zhang Zhaoqing of the Institute of Computing Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences representing the Ostrovskii Class of the Girls Middle School Attached to Beijing Normal University in the 1950s; Prof. Sun Guiying， Mei Yan， Wang Xiaoying， vice president of the China National Drama Theatre and director of the drama How the Steel Was Tempered， and a representative of the Russian Branch of the Western Returned Scholars Association also made speeches. Zhao Yuzhi， vice president of the Huaxia Publishing House presented to the CPAFFC copies of the Chinese version of the book How the Steel Was Tempered——Recollections of the Person and the Writer by His Contemporaries published by the Publishing House to commemorate the birth centenary of the writer.