Flag-bearer As the controversy over native-soil literature spread, writers like Wang Tuo, Yang Ching-chu, Chen Ying-chen, Peng Ko and Yu Kuang-chung fired fusillades back and forth. But Yeh, given his painful experiences under the White Terror, remained circumspect in this period. He did not play an active role in the invective, and insists to this day that he did not take part in that intellectual struggle.
隻手擎旗鄉土文學論戰硝煙四起，作家王拓、楊青矗、陳映真、彭歌、余光中等人各擁立場、炮火隆隆，但葉石濤卻因白色恐怖的慘痛經歷，在此時選擇謹慎，未積極投入，直至今日，他還是堅稱，這場論戰他並未參與。