Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t11: Ba Jin
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t11
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Ba Jin
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Ba Jin (November 25, 1904 - October 17, 2005), original name Li Yaotong, is one of China’s most well-known writers and translators in the 20ᵗʰ century. He is especially famous for his contributions to the New Literature Movement and is known as one of the pillars of modern Chinese literature. His association with India can be linked with his visit to India in 1955 when he participated in and addressed a conference during the Asian Writers Conference held in New Delhi. In recent years, Indian scholars of Chinese literature have done research on sociocultural aspects of Ba Jin’s works and some of his works have been translated. The late Rajam Ranade of Delhi University translated his most famous novel, *Family*, into Malayalam. His works are also included in the syllabus of courses on Chinese Literature and on the History of Chinese Literature, taught in university departments and centres of Chinese language, literature and culture.
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*Bajin*
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*Manuscript of Family (Jia)*
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Ba Jin was born in Chengdu in Sichuan Province into a bureaucratic landlord family that was originally from Zhejiang Province. During the May Fourth Literary Movement, he was heavily influenced by Western concepts such as democracy. At this time he was actively involved in the publication of the progressive journal called *Crescent Moon*, and in an anti-government anarchist organisation called “Equality Society”. In 1923, Ba Jin moved to Shanghai and enrolled in Dongnan University in Nanjing to escape the oppressive control of his feudalistic family. After graduating in the summer of 1925 he published papers,
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*'Selected Works of Ba Jin', the English edition (front cover)*
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distributed anarchist propaganda materials and participated in Leftist strikes. He went to France in 1927 and the following year completed his first novella *Destruction* (《灭亡》), which aroused strong reactions from its readers and won Ba Jin many admirers. Ba Jin returned to China in 1928 and lived in Shanghai, writing many iconic works; his major works include *The Dead Sun* (《死去的太阳》), *New Life* (《新生》), *Miners* (《砂丁》), *The Germination* (《萌芽》) and his famous Love Trilogy (《爱情的三部曲》) (1931-1935) consisting of Fog (《雾》), Rain (《雨》) and ‘Lightning’ (《电》). His novel ‘*The Family*’, part of the ‘*Torrents Trilogy*’ “激流三部曲”, is considered to be his masterpiece and one of the most representative works of modern Chinese literature.
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During the War of Resistance against Japan, Ba Jin worked in various cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Guilin and Chongqing serving as the publisher and chief editor of the magazine called ‘*Outcry*’ (《呐喊》), later named ‘*Beacon*’ (《烽火》). He was also appointed the Director of the “All China Federation of Literary and Art Circles’ Resistance against the Enemy Association”. He published his novels ‘*Spring*’ (《春》) and ‘*Autumn*’ (《秋》) in 1938 and 1940, respectively. Thus completing his ‘*Torrent Trilogy*’“激流三部曲”; from 1940-1945 he wrote ‘*Fire*’ (《火》), one of the works of his ‘*War Trilogy*’ “抗战三部曲”. Towards the end of the war he wrote two novellas called ‘*A Garden of Repose*’ (《憩园》) and ‘*Ward No. 4*’ (《第四病室》) and completed his novel ‘*Cold Nights*’ (《寒夜》) in 1946 along with his two famous short stories ‘*Gods*’ (《神》) and ‘*Ghosts*’ (《鬼》). After the war, Ba Jin did not write any fiction and was mainly engaged in translation work, editing and publishing. In 1949, Ba Jin was elected to the standing committee of the “All China Federation of Literary and Art Circles” and in 1950 he was appointed as the Vice Chairman of the “Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles”. In 1960, he was appointed the Vice President of the “All China Federation of Literary and Art Circles” (China Federation of Literary Journalists' Association) and the Vice Chairman of the “Chinese Writer’s Association”. Ba Jin was brutally persecuted as a counter-revolutionary during the Cultural Revolution but afterwards he was reinstated to his earlier posts such as the Chairman of the Chinese Writers’ Association. His most significant piece of writing after the Cultural Revolution was his discursive writing called ‘*Random Thoughts*’ (《随想录》, five volumes) where he reflected and wrote about this painful period of his life.
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All of Ba Jin’s novels hold an extremely important position in the history of modern Chinese novel writing. He is well known for many beautiful pieces of prose which evocatively expressed his love for his motherland and his love for life. His writing style is characterised by simplicity as he avoided difficult and complex words, thus making him one of the most popular writers of modern China. He also devoted a lot of time to translating works by foreign writers. His death in 2005 marked the end of an era for Chinese literature as he was one of the last major writers who had participated in the New Literature Movement.