[The content of this article is based on authoritative historical data, and there are citations at the end of the article, please be aware.] 】
Preface:
As the main official media in the mainland, [People's Literature Publishing House], since its establishment in 1951, it has only been sued to the Supreme Procuratorate in Beijing once in more than 70 years, and it was also sued by Mr. Zhou Haiying, the only son of Mr. Lu Xun, a famous writer in modern times.
Is there a sense of "who in the hall dares to sue this official"? In the mid-80s, this was a major event that caused a sensation in China, in addition to involving a huge sum of 300,000 yuan, and triggered a "verbal criticism" of Zhou Haiying from all walks of life.
It is rumored that he "regretted giving the copyright of his father's work to the state" and demanded royalties....so what happened to this incident?
One. Event recap
On June 28, 1986, Zhou Haiying sued the state-level People's Literature Publishing House in court with two complaints, and the appeal was simple:
- The total copyright fee for returning his father Lu Xun's various anthologies is 300,000 yuan.
- Repay 40,000 yuan for the copyright fee for the release of the Japanese version of [Lu Xun's Complete Works] in Japan.
You must know that the people who could become tens of thousands of households in the 80s were all the people who went to the sea early to do business, not to mention the huge sum of more than 300,000 yuan, which was enough for a corrupt official to be shot at least five or six times....but as soon as the incident came out, no one sympathized with the plaintiff at the same time, and everyone also condemned Zhou Haiying's treachery, which violated the original selfless spirit and insulted Mr. Lu Xun's style.
The root cause of the matter was in April 1952, when the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was still in full swing, and in China, the trend of unifying thinking and persisting in struggle swept across the country.
Zhou Haiying, who was only 23 years old at the time, responded to the call of the country and took the initiative to donate all his father's books and relics to the country for free.
In 1955, the [Complete Works of Lu Xun], which influenced several generations, was officially published, causing a sensation in the literary world, and the sales volume of that year reached 5.7 million copies, not counting the sales income, the copyright fee alone was 340,000 yuan, remember, this was 340,000 yuan at the end of the 50s.
As Lu Xun's only son, Zhou Haiying has the "right to dispose of" this copyright fee, but he understands the righteousness and says that he will give up the right to dispose of the remuneration and hand it over to the official to deal with, preferably to donate to the country.
The People's Literature Publishing House immediately set up 300,000 yuan as "Lu Xun's remuneration", and in 1958 set up a "literary fund" to reward later outstanding literary creators, and the remaining 40,000 yuan was donated to the state in the name of "Zhou Haiying".
There is a clause in the fund that clearly states that "if Mr. Zhou Haiying encounters difficulties, he can withdraw and use it at any time". This clause became an important evidence for future lawsuits, although Zhou Haiying failed to win the case in the first instance.
Two. Stab in the back? Life is forced!
The act of suing the People's Literature Publishing House is a typical "backtracking"! Although public opinion in the 80s did not spread as quickly as it does now, through the new TV platforms and radio stations, this explosive-sounding incident still caused an uproar.
The public opinion of the people almost overwhelmingly condemned Zhou Haiying for his treachery, lack of Lu Xun's backbone, and unworthy of being a descendant of the Zhou family, and even "Haizi" and other rookies in the literary world also condemned this.
In the face of the unanimous verbal criticism of the whole country, if you were an ordinary person, I am afraid that you would have withdrawn the lawsuit a long time ago, but Zhou Haiying is worthy of being Lu Xun's descendant, and the unruly personality on his body does not allow him to succumb, and he argues with the condition of "in case of difficulty, you can take it out" in the terms of the fund.
Especially after everyone learned the reason for applying for the withdrawal of remuneration, public opinion gradually reversed. Because at that time, Zhou Haiying's family was indeed unsustainable, and their lives were extremely difficult.
When Mr. Lu Xun died, he did not leave much wealth to the family, and his wife Xu Guangping could only go out to work to support the family, while Zhou Haiying was frail and sickly, but he did not leave his studies, he was not as specialized in literature as his father, but was very interested in physics.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Haiying, who was young and promising, became an expert in the field of radio, and his research achievements in the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the 6 and 70s made important contributions to the development of the mainland in the field of radio communications.
Despite this, with the death of his mother, the current situation of the four children in the family still stretched him thin, especially in the 80s, when "it is better to sell tea and eggs than to study missiles", the general dilemma of scientific researchers has become the brand of the times.
Zhou Haiying, who had no money to go to the hospital when the child was sick, had no choice but to use his father's remuneration to support the family, so he sent a request to the People's Publishing House, and then was refused..... after losing the case in the first instance, the relevant central departments and leaders noticed the lawsuit and immediately came forward to help adjust, and under the mediation, Zhou Haiying finally got a remuneration of 300,000 yuan, which was considered to be returned to the original owner.
However, the matter of selling the copyright to Japan has not yet been clarified, and Zhou Haiying did not withdraw the lawsuit and continued to file a lawsuit!
Three. The germination of Chinese people's awareness of copyright
Originality requires a lot of energy and material resources, and imitation is the most trouble-free theft! The People's Literature Publishing House did such a thing that year, because the copyright was sold to Japan, and the Japanese version of [Lu Xun's Complete Works] also set off a wave in Japan, and the copyright fee was as high as 40,000 yuan.
And the final whereabouts of the 40,000 yuan are unknown..... the domestic use of copyright was approved by Zhou Haiying, but the Japanese version of the copyright did infringe on the rights and interests of the Zhou family, after the second instance trial on January 5, 1990, public opinion across the country began to reverse and support the Zhou family to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.
This incident also set a precedent for Chinese people to protect intellectual property rights. In the end, Zhou Haiying won the lawsuit, although he only got a copyright fee of 1,200 yuan, but as a milestone event, its impact is very far-reaching.
After winning the lawsuit, Zhou Haiying returned to radio research and made outstanding contributions to the completion of the first generation of communication networks in the mainland.
End:
From this story, I may only sigh that "a grain of dust of the times, falling on the heads of the people is a mountain", thinking about that difficult 80s, scientific research, military industry have been so miserable, many talents have lost overseas, many military enterprises have changed to people's livelihood, the majority of scientific and technological workers are hungry and can not afford to support their families, but most people still choose to persist and endure.
Nowadays, a strong motherland guarantees the livelihood of talents, they can give full play to their wisdom and talents, for the motherland to overcome a number of scientific and technological problems, 40 years later, finally let the Chinese nation stand on the top of the world again!
Kudos to them!
#长文创作激励计划#
Resources:
April 27, 2011 [Zhou Haiying's Biography]