TITLE:
The Call of Love: On Zhang Jie’s Love Must Not Be Forgotten
AUTHORS:
Doudou An
KEYWORDS:
Love, Zhang Jie, Love Must Not Be Forgotten
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.7,
July
28,
2026
ABSTRACT: Love Must Not Be Forgotten, a social-problem novel with autobiographical overtones, is a representative work of the contemporary writer Zhang Jie, published in 1979. The novel examines the relationship between marriage and love for contemporary women. Through the perspective of her daughter, Shanshan, it recounts the poignant love story between Shanshan’s mother, Zhong Yu, and an elderly cadre—two people who loved each other for decades but never married—while also reflecting on Shanshan’s own marital feelings. Together, mother and daughter call for a marriage founded on love as the only true marriage. This challenge to traditional moral views of women and the pursuit of female spirituality provoked considerable controversy in literary circles at the time. Nevertheless, its artistic value is indisputable, as it manifestly embodies women’s understanding and cognition as social beings.