Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t10: Bing Xin
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t10
- Language
- English
Bing Xin
v2.c10.s2.t10.1
Bing Xin (October 5, 1900 - February 28, 1999) was a Chinese writer, poet and translator. Originally her name was Xie Wanying. Her ancestors were from Changle, Fujian and she was born in Fuzhou, Fujian. Her father was a naval officer during the Qing Dynasty, and had served as deputy captain, the naval school's chancellor etc. After the 1911 Revolution, he resigned and returned to Fuzhou. Bing Xin visited India twice, and made a great
v2.c10.s2.t10.2
*Bingxin*
v2.c10.s2.t10.3
Ba Jin and Bingxin, 1980
v2.c10.s2.t10.4
contribution to India-China cultural exchange by translating Rabindranath Tagore's poems and short novels.
v2.c10.s2.t10.5
Life
v2.c10.s2.t10.6
At the age of 11, Bing Xin went to Fuzhou Women's Normal School for preparatory courses, and in 1913, she moved to Beijing with her father, who became the Head of Military Education under the Ministry of Navy of the Republic of China. In 1914, she went to study at Bridgeman Girls' School, and in 1918, she took preparatory courses at Union College for Women and intended to study medicine. After the May Fourth Movement broke out in 1919, she began to publish articles and was transferred to Department of Literature. The then, Union College for Women was incorporated into Yenching University. Through the introduction given by Xu Dishan and Qu Shiying, she joined the Literature Study Society, and subsequently published *Superman*, a collection of short novels. In 1923, she published *Many a Star* and *Spring Water*, and graduated from Yenching University with a Bachelor's degree. She then received a scholarship and went to the United States of America to study English Literature at Wellesley College. From July 25, 1923 to August 31, 1926, she wrote a prose called *To Little Readers* for a special column of children's world in *Chenbao Fujuan*. Then as an outstanding personality of the New Literature Movement, she was gaining literary fame and a great number of readers. She received a Master's degree in Literature in 1926 in the US, and then returned to China to teach at Yenching University, Tsinghua University and Beiping Women's College of Humanities and Sciences.
v2.c10.s2.t10.7
Influence of Tagore
v2.c10.s2.t10.8
Like many of her contemporaries, it is under the direct influence of Tagore that Bing Xin began to write. When she read Tagore's short novels, "she found out that a novel could be philosophical," and this aroused in her an interest for writing novels. At that time, she did not know much about modern poetry and was doubtful, and thus, did not want to try writing poems in the modern style. As she said in the 'Foreword' of *Many a Star*, she began to write poems by imitating Tagore's *Stray Birds* to express her "fragmented thoughts." Many of her short poems have a philosophical meaning. Although these poems do not have much significance now, nevertheless, these poems are considered to be a beneficial try and a good beginning. Her new-style
v2.c10.s2.t10.9
[Figure: 'Gitanjali (Ji tan jia li)', Rabindranath Tagore, Chinese edition, front cover]
v2.c10.s2.t10.10
poems not only won her praises, but inspired a kind of passion for writing "small poems" in early stages of vernacular poetry writing.
v2.c10.s2.t10.11
Bing Xin is mostly known for her prose. *To Little Readers*, a prose collection, has a poetic portrait of childlike innocence, maternal love and beauty of the Nature, and spiritually has something in common with Tagore, under whose influence she had cultivated an elegant, lyrical, fresh and flowing style of language. Like Tagore, Bing Xin had a heart which was magnanimous and merciful as well intolerant towards all evil. In 1920, shortly after her literary debut, she wrote a prose "To Tagore from Afar", to express her admiration and agreement with his "beautiful poetry" and "sublime philosophy." Actually, in her heart, she already took Tagore as a mentor and maintained a lifelong affection for him.
v2.c10.s2.t10.12
Visit to India
v2.c10.s2.t10.13
Bing Xin and her husband Wu Wenzao after living in Japan for a short period (1946-1951) returned to China after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and Bing Xin again became preoccupied with writing, translating Indian and other foreign literary works and attending social activities. From November 27, 1953 to January 2, 1954, she went to India with a delegation of China-India Friendship Association and visited many cities, villages as well as scenic and historical sites, including New Delhi, Bombay (present-day Mumbai), Madras (present-day Chennai), Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) and Visva-Bharati University (founded by Tagore). During the visit, she met with Mulk Raj Anand and other famous writers. Anand presented her with his ‘*Fairy Tales of India*’, and asked her to translate them for the young reader of China. Back to China, she wrote ‘My Trip to India’ and published this essay on the *New Observation* (Issue 11 and 12, 1954) under the Chinese Writers Association. On April 2, 1955, she went to India to attend a conference of Asian countries and returned to China on April 22. Soon after, she wrote the essay *India Revisited*. In ‘My Trip to India’, Bing Xin narrated how she was treated in India, how she was deeply impressed and praised the deep traditional friendship between the Chinese and Indians. After seeing India’s sceneries, buildings, sculptures, music, dances and arts, she had a visual understanding of the backdrop of rich cultural and artistic soil for Tagore’s literary production, and obviously, this would have helped her future understanding and translation of Tagore’s works.
v2.c10.s2.t10.14
Translation of Tagore’s Works
v2.c10.s2.t10.15
Her important contribution to India-China cultural exchange is the translation of Indian literature in general, and Tagore’s works in particular. In January 1955, China Youth Publishing House published her translation of Mulk Raj Anand’s *Fairy Tales of India*. In April 1955, People’s Literature Publishing House published her translation of Tagore’s *Gitanjali*, and thanks to her elegant and concise translation, this lyric collection soon became popular in China, and its Article 35 (Where the mind is without fear) was included into Chinese textbooks for middle school. For more than half a century, at least more than one million copies of this collection of poems have been printed, attracting tens of millions of readers. In May 1958, People’s Literature Publishing House published *Collected Poems of Tagore* translated by Bing Xin and Shi Zhen, which included her new translation of *Poems by Tagore* (1942). She pointed out in ‘Translator’s Postscript’, compared with the bright scenery in *Gitanjali*, some pieces in *Poems* revealed a severe aspect of Tagore’s personality. From September 1956 to June 1959, in addition to poems, Bing Xin had also translated Tagore’s ‘*Kabuliwala*’, ‘*Subha*’, ‘*Tyag*’, ‘*Nisithe*’ and ‘*Manbhanjan*’ (short novels), ‘*The Gardener*’ (a collection of poems), ‘*Chitra*’ and ‘*The King of the Dark Chamber*’ (dramas) and some essays. On May 15 the same year, she attended Tagore’s 100ᵗʰ birthday celebration held by China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC) and other groups. She finished the translation of *My Reminiscences* (Tagore’s memoir) before the Cultural Revolution. But the final part was lost among the chaos of that period, and this translation was not published until April 1988. She also translated works of other Indian people such as Sarojini Naidu etc.
v2.c10.s2.t10.16
At India’s request, Bing Xin wrote an article in English to celebrate Tagore’s 100ᵗʰ birthday, titled *Let’s Commemorate Tagore in Unity and Friendship*, which was included in *Rabindranath Tagore, A Centenary Volume*, published by the Sahitya Akademi in New Delhi in 1961. In this article she said, that when in her childhood, she found Tagore’s *Gitanjali*, *The Crescent Moon* and other poems on the library shelves. She felt they were fresh, rhythmic and full of oriental charm. She was impressed by the poet’s sympathy with women and affection for children, and Tagore became the most revered foreign poet in her youth.
v2.c10.s2.t10.17
In the past century, hundreds of persons, including great masters, have translated Tagore’s works from English, Bengali, Hindi or other foreign languages, however, so far as *Gitanjali* is concerned, no one has surpassed Bing Xin. *Gitanjali* is a masterpiece translation for Bing Xin that is hard to be attained by others, since she is in spiritual harmony with Tagore, and enjoys an unusual talent for language. Tagore has had a strong influence on her life and her early literary production, while Bing Xin, through excellent writing, has facilitated Tagore’s works to be well-read and understood by Chinese.
v2.c10.s2.t10.18
(*Liu Jian*)
Linked texts (1)
- Vyagradaridraśubhaṃkara — Cakrapāṇinātha, Sanskrit