Shen Dehong (Shen Yanbing; 4 July 1896 – 27 March 1981), known by the pen name of Mao Dun, was a Chinese essayist, journalist, novelist, and playwright. Mao Dun, as a 20th-century Chinese novelist, literary and cultural critic, and the Minister of Culture (1949–65), he is one of the most celebrated left-wing realist novelists of modern China. His most famous works are "Midnight" (子夜), a novel depicting life in cosmopolitan Shanghai, which is also considered to be the most influential work to his future writing. Furthermore, during the period of producing "Midnight", Mao Dun had developed a strong friendship with one of the most famous Chinese writers, Lu Xun.