Ba Jin

{{Infobox writer

| birth_name = Li Yaotang / Li Feigan{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/oct/18/guardianobituaries.china|title=Ba Jin (Obituary)|first=John|last=Gittings|work=The Guardian|date=18 October 2005|access-date=23 August 2021|archive-date=30 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730102653/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/oct/18/guardianobituaries.china|url-status=live}}

| name = Ba Jin

| image = Ba Jin, Berlin 1956.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Ba Jin in Berlin, 1956

| pseudonym = Ba Jin

| birth_date = {{birth date|1904|11|25|df=y}}

| birth_place = Chengdu, Sichuan, Qing China

| death_date = {{death date and age|2005|10|17|1904|11|25|df=y}}

| death_place = Shanghai, People's Republic of China

| occupation = Novelist

| notableworks = Turbulent Stream: The Family, Spring, and Autumn
Love Trilogy: Fog, Rain, and Lightning

| spouse = {{Marriage|Xiao Shan|1936|1972|reason=died}}

| children = Li Xiaolin
Li Xiao

| awards = 1983: Legion of Honour
1990: Fukuoka Prize (special prize)

}}

{{Infobox Chinese

| c = 巴金

| p = Bā Jīn

| w = Pa1 Chin1

| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|b|a|1|-|j|in|1}}

| j = Baa1 Gam1

| y = Bāa Gām

| ci = {{IPAc-yue|b|aa|1|-|g|am|1}}

| poj = Pa Kim

| t2 = 李堯棠

| s2 = 李尧棠

| p2 = Lǐ Yáotáng

| w2 = Li3 Yao2-t'ang2

| mi2 = {{IPAc-cmn|l|i|3|-|yao|2|-|t|ang|2}}

}}

Li Yaotang ({{lang-zh|s=李尧棠|t=李堯棠|p=Lǐ Yáotáng}}; 25 November 1904 – 17 October 2005), better known by his pen name Ba Jin ({{lang-zh|s=巴金|t=巴金|p=Bā Jīn}}) or his courtesy name Li Feigan ({{lang-zh|s=李芾甘|t=李芾甘|p=Lǐ Fèigān}}), was a Chinese anarchist, translator, and writer. In addition to his impact on Chinese literature, he also wrote three original works in Esperanto,Geoffrey Sutton, Concise Encyclopedia of the [https://books.google.com/books?id=-Z_8CG9g2jIC&dq=ba+jin+esperanto&pg=PA180 Original Literature of Esperanto] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202013717/https://books.google.be/books?id=-Z_8CG9g2jIC&pg=PA180&lpg=PA180&dq=ba+jin+esperanto&source=bl&ots=pV8E3FgNnl&sig=eIqkAoUIzENT4R-ZDVImnskbXho&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uJbhUuedJcTuyQHi7IEY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=ba%20jin%20esperanto&f=false |date=2021-02-02 }}, p. 180, Ed. Mondial, New York, {{ISBN|978-1-59569-090-6}} and as a political activist he wrote The Family.

Name

He was born as Li Yaotang,{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/world/asia/obituary-ba-jin-chinese-novelist-and-anarchist.html|title=Obituary: Ba Jin, Chinese novelist and anarchist|work=The New York Times|date=17 October 2005|access-date=23 August 2021|archive-date=23 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823180917/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/world/asia/obituary-ba-jin-chinese-novelist-and-anarchist.html|url-status=live}} with alternate name Li Feigan or Li Pei Kan (in Wade–Giles).{{cite book|first1=Lucien|last1=Van der Walt|first2=Michael|last2=Schmidt|title=Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism|url=https://archive.org/details/blackflamerevolu00walt|url-access=limited|publisher=AK Press|year=2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/blackflamerevolu00walt/page/n32 20]|isbn=9781904859161}} The first word of his pen name may have been taken from Ba Embo, his classmate who committed suicide in Paris, which was admitted by himself,{{cite journal |last1=Gandini |first1=Jean-Jacques |title=Ba Jin revisité [Destruction et A la mémoire de Ba Jin traduits et présentés par Angel Pino et Isabelle Rabut] |journal=Perspectives Chinoises |date=1995 |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=69–71 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/perch_1021-9013_1995_num_31_1_1940 |access-date=17 June 2021 |language=fr |quote=que Ba était un hommage à un camarade de classe, Ba Enbo, rencontré lors de son séjour en France en 1927 et dont il apprit...... |archive-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625025712/https://www.persee.fr/doc/perch_1021-9013_1995_num_31_1_1940 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Pa Kin, grande figure de la littérature chinoise du XXe siècle |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2005/10/18/pa-kin-grande-figure-de-la-litterature-chinoise-du-xxe-siecle_700585_3382.html |access-date=17 June 2021 |work=Le Monde |date=2005-10-18 |language=fr |quote=le "Pa" n'a rien à voir avec Bakounine (prononcé en chinois Pa-ku-ning), mais s'inspire d'un certain Pa Enbo, un ami chinois de Château-Thierry qui s'était suicidé en se jetant dans une rivière. |archive-date=2021-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624200409/https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2005/10/18/pa-kin-grande-figure-de-la-litterature-chinoise-du-xxe-siecle_700585_3382.html |url-status=live }} or from the first syllable of the surname of the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin;Many sources claim it comes from the Chinese transliteration of Mikhail Bakunin, and he refused to admit because of communists' harsh condemnation of Bakunin, who was an open rival of Marx. See: {{cite journal |last1=Rapp |first1=John A. |last2=Youd |first2=Daniel M. |title=Ba Jin as Anarchist Critic of Marxism: Guest Editors' Introduction |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10971467.2015.1003017 |journal=Contemporary Chinese Thought |access-date=17 June 2021 |date=2015-04-03 |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=3–21 |doi=10.1080/10971467.2015.1003017 |s2cid=143212159 |archive-date=2021-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624195834/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10971467.2015.1003017 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }} and the last character of which is the Chinese equivalent of the last syllable of Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin (克鲁泡特金, Ke-lu-pao-te-jin).{{cite journal |last1=Rapp |first1=John A. |last2=Youd |first2=Daniel M. |title=Ba Jin as Anarchist Critic of Marxism: Guest Editors' Introduction |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10971467.2015.1003017 |journal=Contemporary Chinese Thought |access-date=17 June 2021 |date=2015-04-03 |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=3–21 |doi=10.1080/10971467.2015.1003017 |s2cid=143212159 |quote=......from the name for Peter Kropotkin (Ke-lu-pao-te-jin). |archive-date=2021-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624195834/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10971467.2015.1003017 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}{{cite web |title=Ba Jin |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ba-Jin |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=17 June 2021 |language=en |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624201838/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ba-Jin |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Obituary: Ba Jin |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/oct/18/guardianobituaries.china |access-date=17 June 2021 |work=the Guardian |date=2005-10-18 |language=en |archive-date=2016-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730102653/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/oct/18/guardianobituaries.china |url-status=live }}

Biography

On November 25, 1904, Li Yaotang was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, into a wealthy Li family. The family's wealth came mainly from the land acquired by his grandfather and father when they were officials, and Li Yaotang sometimes described his family as a "typical landlord's family".{{cite book |last1=Lang |first1=Olga |title=Pa Chin And His Writings: Chinese Youth Between The Two Revolutions |date=1967 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674650503 |page=7}}{{cite journal |last1=Kong |first1=Haili |title=Disease and Humanity: Ba Jin and His Ward Four: A Wartime Novel of China |journal=Frontiers of Literary Studies in China |date=5 June 2012 |volume=6 |issue=2 |page=199 |doi=10.3868/s010-001-012-0012-8 |access-date=5 October 2023 |url=https://journal.hep.com.cn/flsc/EN/10.3868/s010-001-012-0012-8}} In 1919, Ba read Kropotkin's An Appeal to the Young and converted to anarchism.{{cite journal |last1=Ng |first1=Mau Sang |title=Ba Jin and Russian Literature |journal=Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews |date=1981 |volume=3 |issue=1 |page=69 |doi=10.2307/495337 |jstor=495337 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/495337 |access-date=20 February 2023 |issn=0161-9705|url-access=subscription }}

It was partly owing to boredom that Ba Jin began to write his first novel, Miewang {{lang|zh|灭亡}} (“Destruction”).Jaroslav Průšek and Zbigniew Słupski, eds., Dictionary of Oriental Literatures: East Asia (Charles Tuttle, 1978): 135-136. In France, Ba Jin continued his anarchist activism, translating many anarchist works, including Kropotkin's Ethics, into Chinese, which was mailed back to Shanghai's anarchist magazines for publication.See Angel Pino, “Ba Jin as Translator,” tr. Ian MacCabe, in Peng Hsiao-yen & Isabelle Rabut (eds.), Modern China and the West: Translation and Cultural Mediation. Leiden-Boston: Brill, “East Asian Comparative Literature and Culture” (2), 2014, 28-105.

During the Cultural Revolution, Ba Jin was heavily persecuted as a counter-revolutionary. In his memoir, Ba Jin also wrote about his own participation in the persecution of friends and acquaintances.{{Rp|page=64}} He asked that a Cultural Revolution Museum be set up in 1981.{{cite web|url=https://lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/mystifizierung_der_kulturrevolution?nav_id=6972|title="Mystifizierung der Kulturrevolution" (Interview with Nora Sausmikat)|first=Nana|last=Sippel|publisher=:de:Gerda Henkel Stiftung|date=18 May 2017|access-date=28 August 2021|language=de|archive-date=14 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814024932/https://lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/mystifizierung_der_kulturrevolution?nav_id=6972|url-status=live}} Ba Jin stated that such museums could include "concrete and real objects" and reconstruct "striking scenes" of the Cultural Revolution in order to engrave the upheaval of the period in Chinese national memory.{{Cite book |last=Tu |first=Hang |title=Sentimental Republic: Chinese Intellectuals and the Maoist Past |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center |year=2025 |isbn=9780674297579}}{{Rp|page=64}} In his view, passing on to later generations memories of this "catastrophic era" would help avoid history repeating itself.{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Jie |author-link= |title=Red Legacies in China: Cultural Afterlives of the Communist Revolution |date=2016 |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center |isbn=978-0-674-73718-1 |editor-last=Li |editor-first=Jie |series=Harvard Contemporary China Series |volume= |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |chapter=Museums and Memorials of the Mao Era: A Survey and Notes for Future Curators |doi= |jstor= |editor-last2=Zhang |editor-first2=Enhua}}{{Rp|page=319}} Ba Jin did not attempt to implement his proposal for a Cultural Revolution museum.{{Rp|page=324}}

The Shantou Cultural Revolution Museum referenced the influence of Ba Jin on its establishment through displaying a depiction of his at the entrance{{cite book|last=Li|first=Jie|title=Utopian Ruins: A Memorial Museum of the Mao Era|date=2020|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-147-801-018-0|page=231|language=en}} as well as a quote of his, "Every town in China should establish a museum about the Cultural Revolution."{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/shining-a-light-on-mao-s-dark-era-1.460744|title=Shining a light on Mao's dark era|first=Clifford|last=Coonan|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=27 June 2005|access-date=23 August 2021|archive-date=9 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409154637/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/shining-a-light-on-mao-s-dark-era-1.460744|url-status=live}}

File:Former Residence of Ba Jin.jpg

Some critics of Ba Jin noted that his vision of a Cultural Revolution did not deviate much from the official judgment on the period contained in the 1981 Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People's Republic of China and that he did not propose how to treat the actions and figure of Mao Zedong in such a museum.{{Rp|page=324}} Other critics contended that Ba Jin's vision privileged the suffering of elites during the Cultural Revolution and ignored the experience of the poor, many of whom remembered the Mao era as when they first received job security and health care, or who may remember the period as a time of simple virtue and close communities.{{Rp|pages=324-325}}

Ba Jin contributed calligraphy to photographer Yang Kelin's 1995 two volume work, The Cultural Revolution Museum.{{Rp|page=322}}

Ba Jin's works were heavily influenced by foreign writers, including Émile Zola, Ivan Turgenev, Alexander Herzen, Anton Chekhov, and Emma Goldman.He described Goldman as his "spiritual mother", and dedicated The General to her. See Preface, The General, and Olga Lang, Pa Chin and His Writings: Chinese Youth Between the Wars (Harvard University Press, 1967).

His married wife since 1944, Xiao Shan, died of cancer in 1972.

Ba Jin suffered from Parkinson's disease beginning in 1983. The illness confined him to Huadong Hospital in Shanghai from 1998. He died in 2005.{{Rp|page=324}}

Bibliography

=English translations=

(1954) Living Amongst Heroes. Beijing: Foreign Language Press.
(1958) The Family. (trans. Sidney Shapiro) Beijing: Foreign Language Press.
(1959) A battle for life: a full record of how the life of steel worker, Chiu Tsai-kang, was saved in the Shanghai Kwangrze Hospital. Beijing: Foreign Language Press.
(1978) Cold Nights (trans. Nathan K. Mao and Liu Ts'un-yan) Hong Kong: Chinese University press.
(1984) Random Thoughts (trans. Germie Barm&ecute). Hong Kong: Joint Publishing Company. (Partial translation of Suizianglu)
(1988) Selected works of Ba Jin (trans. Sidney Shapiro and Jock Hoe) Beijing: Foreign Language Press. (Includes The Family, Autumn in Spring, Garden of Repose, Bitter Cold Nights)
(1999) Ward Four: A Novel of Wartime China (trans. Haili Kong and Howard Goldblatt). San Francisco: China Books and Periodicals, Inc.
(2005) "How to Build a Society of Genuine Freedom and Equality"(1921), "Patriotism and the Road to Happiness for the Chinese"(1921) and "Anarchism and the Question of Practice"(1927) in Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas, Volume 1: From Anarchy to Anarchism (300CE-1939), ed. Robert Graham. Montreal: Black Rose Books.
(2012) Ward Four: A Novel of Wartime China (trans. Howard Goldblatt). San Francisco: China Books and Periodicals, Inc. {{ISBN|9780835100007}}.

=Ba Jin stories in collections=

Arzybasheff, M. (1927). "Morning Shadows?" in Tales of the Revolution. Tr. Percy Pinkerton. New York Huebsch.
(1927). "Workingman Shevyrev." in Tales of the Revolution, tr. Percy Pinkerton. New York: Huebsch.

Works

;Short story collections

Vengeance 《复仇》, 1931
Dog 《狗》, 1931
Brightness 《光明》, 1932
The Electric Chair 《电椅》, 1933
Wiping Cloth 《抹布》, 1933
The General 《将军》, 1934
Gods, Ghosts and Men 《神·鬼·人》, 1935
Sinking 《沉落》, 1936
The Story of Hair 《发的故事》, 1936
Thunder 《雷》, 1937
Resurrection Grass 《还魂草》, 1942
Little People, Little Events 《小人小事》, 1943
Heroic Tales 《英雄的故事》, 1953
Pigs and Chickens 《猪与鸡》, 1959
Li Da-hai 《李大海》, 1961
Stories Outside the City, 1992

;Children's literature

The Immortality Pagoda 《长生塔》, 1937
The Pearl and the Jade Concubine 《明珠和玉姬》, 1957

;Novels and novellas

Destruction 《灭亡》, 1929
The Dead Sun 《死去的太阳》, 1931
The "Love" Trilogy 《爱情的三部曲》 (1931–5)
Fog 《雾》, 1931
Rain 《雨》, 1933
Lightning 《电》, 1935
New Life 《新生》, 1933
Miners 《砂丁》, 1933
Germination 《萌芽》, 1933
A Dream of the Sea 《海的梦》, 1932
Autumn in Spring 《春天里的秋天》, 1932
The "Torrents" Trilogy 《激流三部曲》
The Family 《家》, 1933
Spring 《春》, 1938
Autumn 《秋》, 1940
Lina 《利娜》, 1940
Fires 《火》(in three volumes), 1940–1945
Stars 《星》(English-Chinese bilingual), 1941
A Garden of Repose 《憩园》, novella, 1944
Ward No 4 《第四病室》, 1946
Cold Nights 《寒夜》, 1947

;Autobiography and memoirs

Ba Jin: An Autobiography 《巴金自传》, 1934
I Remember 《忆》, 1936
Thinking Back on Childhood 《童年的回忆》, 1984

;Non-fiction

(coauthor) Anarchism and its Practical Problems 《无政府主义与实际问题》, 1927
From Capitalism to Anarchism 《从资本主义到安那其主义》, 1930
A Walk by the Sea 《海行》, 1932
Travel Notes 《旅途随笔》, 1934
Droplets of Life 《点滴》, 1935
Confessions of Living 《生之忏悔》, 1936
Brief Notes 《短简》, 1937
I Accuse 《控诉》, 1937
Dreaming and Drunkenness 《梦与醉》, 1938
Thoughts and Feelings 《感想》, 1939
Black Earth 《黑土》, 1939
Untitled 《无题》, 1941
Dragons, Tigers and Dogs 《龙·虎·狗》, 1941
Outside the Derelict Garden 《废园外》, 1942
Travel Notes 《旅途杂记》, 1946
Remembering 《怀念》, 1947
Tragedy of a Still Night 《静夜的悲剧》, 1948
The Nazi Massacre Factory: Auschwitz 《纳粹杀人工厂—奥斯威辛》, 1951
Warsaw Festivals: Notes in Poland 《华沙城的节日—波兰杂记》, 1951
The Consoling Letter and Others 《慰问信及其他》, 1951
Living Amongst Heroes 《生活书局在英雄们中间》, 1953
They Who Defend Peace 《保卫和平的人们》, 1954
On Chekhov 《谈契河夫》, 1955
Days of Great Joy 《大欢乐的日子》, 1957
Strong Warriors 《坚强的战士》, 1957
A Battle for Life 《—场挽救生命的战斗》, 1958
New Voices: A Collection 《新声集》, 1959
Friendship: A Collection 《友谊集》, 1959
Eulogies: A Collection 《赞歌集》, 1960
Feelings I Can't Express 《倾吐不尽的感情》, 1963
Lovely by the Bridge 《贤良桥畔》, 1964
Travels to Dazhai 《大寨行》, 1965
Ba Jin: New Writings, 1978–1980
Smorching Smoke 《烟火集》, 1979
Random Thoughts 《随想录》, 1978–86
Thinking Back on Writing 《创作回忆录》 1981
Exploration and Memories 《探索与回忆》, 1982
Afterwords: A Collection 《序跋集》, 1982
Remembrance: A Collection 《忆念集》, 1982
Ba Jin: On Writing 《巴金论创作》, 1983
Literature: Recollections (with Lao She) 《文学回忆录》 1983
To Earth to Dust 《愿化泥土》, 1984
I Accuse: A Collection 《控诉集》, 1985
In My Heart 《心里话》, 1986
Ten Years, One Dream 《十年一梦》, 1986
More Thoughts 《再思录》, 1995

;Letters

To Our Young Friends Looking for Aspirations 《寻找理想的少年朋友》, 1987
The Collection of the Snow and Mud – All the Remaining Letters Written by Ba Jin to Yang Yi 《雪泥集》, 1987
Collected Letters of Ba Jin 《巴金书信集》, 1991

;Others

[http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/bajin/abattleforlife.html A Battle For Life]
[http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Goldman/Exhibition/jin.html Partial excerpt of English translation of Ba Jin's dedication to Emma Goldman]
[https://www.revoltlib.com/anarchism/how-are-we-to-establish-a-truly-free-and-egalitarian-society/view.php How Are We To Establish A Truly Free And Egalitarian Society?, 1921]
[https://www.revoltlib.com/anarchism/nationalism-and-the-road-to-happiness-for-the-chinese/view.php Nationalism and the Road to Happiness for the Chinese, 1921]
[https://www.revoltlib.com/anarchism/letter-from-ba-jin-to-the-cria/view.php Letter from Ba Jin to the CRIA (International Anarchist Liaison Commission, Paris), 18 March 1949]
[https://www.revoltlib.com/anarchism/a-museum-of-the-cultural-revolution/view.php A Museum of the "Cultural Revolution", 1986]

References

=Films=

Return from Silence: Five prominent and controversial Chinese writers speak on their roles in the modernization of China. (1 hour video cassette available) — The life and work of five esteemed Chinese writers whose modern classics shaped China's past: Ba Jin, Mao Dun, Ding Ling, Cao Yu, and Ai Qing. Produced by Chung-wen Shih, George Washington University, 1982.

External links

[http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-11/24/content_284041.htm "Literary witness to century of turmoil" China Daily (2003-11-24)]
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4351760.stm "Chinese literary icon Ba Jin dies" (BBC)]
[https://www.smh.com.au/news/obituaries/a-giant-of-chinese-literature/2005/10/20/1129775897723.html A giant of Chinese literature] "A giant of Chinese literature" ~ The Sydney Morning Herald' (21 October 2005)]
[http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/bajin/bajinarchive.html Ba Jin at Anarchist Archives]
[http://wordswithoutborders.org/article/when-the-snow-melted/ "When the Snow Melted" Translated by Tang Sheng] at Words Without Borders
[http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=26810 Pa Chin: A Literary and Revolutionary Chinese Anarchist ~ YemenTimes Newspaper] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608070944/http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=26810 |date=2011-06-08 }}
[http://www.learn-chinese.org/modernprose1/prose.html Ba Jin: Life and Works]
[https://lib-linux2.hkbu.edu.hk/scadb/pgcw/purl.php?&did=pgcw005 Ba Jin. A Portrait by Kong Kai Ming] at Hong Kong Baptist University Library