League of Left-Wing Writers
Though not self-identified as a feminist, Ding Ling's writings and thoughts on gender issues resonate a lot with feminist ideas and ideals. In March 1932, Ding Ling joined the Chinese Communist Party, and she was recognized as an active writer in the League of Left-Wing Writers. During her time in the CCP, Ding Ling published several well-known essays and novels concerning gender issues and living situation of women. In 1942 she wrote an article in a party newspaper, titled "Thoughts on March 8", questioning the party's commitment to change popular attitudes towards women. Because of her explicit descriptions of sentimentality and sexuality, as well as her public critique of the Party's leadership, Ding Ling was denounced as a "rightist" and purged from the party in 1957. Her fiction and essays were then also banned. After many years of imprisonment, she reemerged in 1979, and became the vice president of the Chinese Writers' Association.