Hu Yeh-p'in (1907-7 February 1931), writer and companion of Ting Ling (q.v.). He became an ardent Communist and an official of the League of Left-Wing Writers. After his arrest and execution by the Nationalists, he became known as one of the five martyrs of the League of Left-Wing Writers.

Foochow, Fukien, was the birthplace of Hu Yeh-p'in. His father ran a Peking opera troupe which had been organized by his grandfather, a native of Kiangsi. Hu had four younger brothers and a younger sister. He was enrolled at an old-style private school at the age of four, but had to leave school four years later because his father's troupe disbanded. Two years later, the family's financial situation improved when his father rented a theater and arranged for other troupes to appear there. Hu then went to the Ch'ungte Primary School, which was run by foreign missionaries. At school, he participated in oratorical contests and theatrical events. Because his mother, a devout Buddhist, opposed his participation in the school's Christian religious services, he spent only one year at the Ch'ungte Primary School. He then was sent to a private school, where he studied the Chinese classics for three years.

In 1918 the family's financial situation again became straitened, and Hu Yeh-p'in had to leave school. At the age of 14, he became an apprentice in a Foochow jewelry store. In 1920 he rebelled and ran away to Shanghai, where he enrolled at the P'u-tung Middle School under the name Hu Ch'ung-hsien. About a year later, he was admitted to the tuition-free Navy School at Ta-ku-k'ou on the recommendation of a relative working in the naval ministry, and he studied mechanical engineering. Hu soon had to leave school because he lacked funds. He went to Peking, where he held a variety of jobs and spent many hours listening to young intellectuals discuss literature. These discussions led him to begin reading fiction and poetry, and he soon decided to become a writer. In 1924 Hu Yeh-p'in and two friends established a literary supplement to the Ching-pao [Peking news] called Min-chung wen-i chou-k'an [masses literature weekly], and its first issue appeared in December. In this enterprise he was closely associated with Lu Hsün (Chou Shu-jen, q.v.) and with Shen Ts'ung-wen (q.v.), who was a frequent contributor to the supplement. Although the magazine ceased publication in May 1925, it gave Hu Yeh-p'in the opportunity to publish 15 pieces, including short stories and essays, under the name Hu Ch'ung-hsien.

In the spring of 1925 Hu Yeh-p'in met Ting Ling (q.v.). Before long, they began to lead a secluded existence in a small cottage in the Western Hills near Peking. He wrote poetry and in 1926 contributed regularly to the literary supplement of the Ch^en Pao [morning post], using the pen names Yeh-p'in and P'in. His work also appeared in Hsien-tai p'ing-lun [contemporary re'iew], Hsiao-shüo yueh-pao fshort story magazine], and Tung-fang tsa-chih [eastern miscellany]. In 1926 his poems were collected and published as Yuan-wang [expectations]. However, only a few of his writings were published, and he tried unsuccessfully to found a new magazine. According to Ting Ling, he "contracted the diseases of melancholy and nihilism. The poems he wrote at that time were filled with such deplorable emotions." When Ting Ling's writings became popular, Hu Yeh-p'in's depression increased. They moved to Shanghai, where, on Shen Ts'ungwen's recommendation, Hu Yeh-p'in became the editor of a literary supplement of the Central Daily News. The first issue of the supplement appeared on 19 June 1928, and it ceased publication with the issue of 31 October. Hu Yeh-p'in, Ting Ling, and Shen Ts'ung-wen then established Hung-hei yueh-k'an [red and black] and Jen-chien jueh-k'an [mankind], which began publication on 20 January 1929. The venture soon ended in bankruptcy: the last issue of Jen-chien yueh-k'an appeared in April, and the last issue of Hung-hei yueh-k'an, in August.

During this period, Hu Yeh-p'in had become interested in Marxist literary and political theories. His radical tendencies first were reflected in a novel about class struggle, Tao Mo-ssu-k'o ch'ü [to Moscow], which he completed in May 1929. It tells of a woman whose Communist lover is killed by her husband, a government oflficial. The book ends with the heroine's departure for Moscow and a new life. In early 1930 Hu Yeh-p'in wrote Kuang-ming tsai wo-men ti ch'ien-mien [light is ahead of us], which was intended to illustrate the impact of the May Thirtieth Movement of 1925 on writers of "art for art's sake," anarchists, and Communist intellectuals. Part of this novel was published in May 1930 in the first issue o[ Jih-ch'u [sunrise], which was fined and forced to close as a result.

As Hu Yeh-p'in became more outspoken in his political beliefs, the market for his writings dwindled. Because he needed money, in the spring of 1930 he accepted a teaching position at the Tsinan Middle School. He was very popular with the students. He lectured on proletarian literature and formed a literary club which soon had a membership of more than 400 students. The principal of the school and the proctor also joined. On 9 May, at the commemoration ceremonies of the humiliating Twenty-one Demands on China by the Japanese, the students became excited and almost rioted. Hu Yeh-p'in did not know how to lead a crowd to mass demonstration. He attempted to find the Communist party organization in Tsinan so that one of its members could channel the agitation to mass movement, but failed. He was about to try and contact the Communists in Shanghai when the principal of the school informed him that government authorities had become apprehensive about the upheaval at the school and that he should leave Tsinan. Hu went to Tsingtao and then to Shanghai, where he devoted himself to political activity. Hu Yeh-p'in joined the newly formed League of Left-Wing Writers [see Chou Shu-jen) and soon became a member of its executive committee and chairman of its board of correspondence with workers, peasants, and soldiers. He also taught at a summer school organized by Feng Hsueh-feng and other Communists. In November 1930 he joined the Chinese Communist party. On 17 January 1931, during a preparatory meeting for the All-China Congress of Soviets, he and other participants w'ere arrested by the Nationalist authorities. Ting Ling and Shen Ts'ung-wen tried to secure his release, but he and 23 others were executed on 7 February 1931. Hu Yeh-p'in, Jou Shih, Feng K'eng, Yiu Fu, and Li Wei-sen became known as the five martyrs of the League of Left-Wing Writers, and the mass execution, publicized by such Western writers as Nym Whales, Agnes Smedley, and Edgar Snow, became a scandal.

In 1951 Hu Yeh-p'in hsuan-chi [selections from Hu Yeh-p'in], which included two novels and some stories and essays, was published by the Communist Hsin-wen-hsueh hsuan-chi pien-chi wei-yuan-hui [editorial committee for the anthologization of progressive literature]. The novels received special commendation from the committee as exceptionally good examples of proletarian literature in content, ideology, and technique.