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Li Yaotang
Ba Jin in 1938
Born	November 25, 1904(1904-11-25) Chengdu, Sichuan
Died	October 17, 2005 (aged 100) Shanghai
Pen name	Ba Jin
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	Chinese
Writing period	1927-1995
Influences Emile Zola, Ivan Turgenev, Alexandr Herzen, Anton Chekhov

Li Yaotang (simplified Chinese: 李尧棠; traditional Chinese: 李堯棠; pinyin: Lǐ Yáotáng; Wade-Giles: Li Yaot'ang, November 25, 1904 – October 17, 2005), courtesy name Feigan (芾甘), is considered to be one of the most important and widely-read Chinese writers of the 20th century. He wrote under the pen name of Ba Jin (巴金, also Pa Chin), allegedly taking his pseudonym from Russian anarchists Bakunin and Kropotkin. Ba Jin started composing his first works in the late 1920s.

Biography

Early life and anarchism

Born in Chengdu, Sichuan, Li was born into a scholarly family of officials. His paternal grandfather ruled the large, five generation-tiered household with an autocratic hand, which young Li found stifling, not unlike that depicted in his famous novel, Family. As a child Li was taught to read and write first by his mother, and later by privately engaged house tutors. It was not until the death of this grandfather in 1917, causing a power struggle which ended with an elder uncle emerging victorious, that released him to explore the world. As a youngster Li read widely and was deeply influenced by Piotr Kropotkin's famous pamphlet, An Appeal to the Young, which he read at age fifteen. Hugely impressed by Emma Goldman, whom he later referred to as his "spiritual mother", Li started a lifelong correspondence with her.

In 1920, Li enrolled, with an elder brother, in the Chengdu Foreign Language Specialist School to study English. It was there he first engaged in the organization of literary journal Crescent and wrote a number of vers libre. Joining an anarchist organization, the Equality Society, Li became its most prominent member, actively distributing propaganda leaflets.

Three years later, Li moved to Shanghai and subsequently to Dongnan University, Nanjing on the pretext of study, but mainly, as he put it, to escape the feudalistic influence of his family. There he managed to master Esperanto within one year of diligent study and took part in leftist socialist strikes, while remaining active in the anarchist movement, writing a pamphlet on the Chicago Anarchist Martyrs.

France (1927-8)

On graduation, he left on-board a liner on February 15, 1927 with a friend for Paris, France for further studies, where he lodged at the 5th arrondissement (three months at Rue Banville, then Rue Tournefort, No. 2). He described his life there as boring and monotonous, taking daily afternoon walks at the Jardin du Luxembourg and evening French lessons at Alliance Francaise. He recalled especially Rousseau's statue at the Panthéon ("I almost knelt underneath it...he whom Tolstoy described as the conscience of the 18th century"), the River Seine and the tollings of the Notre Dame.

"In spring 1927 I was living atop a five-storied apartment at Paris's Quartier Latin, a small lodging full of gas and onion smell. I was lonely, I felt pain, sunlight hardly shone into my room: I missed my homeland and my family." (一九二七年春天我住在巴黎拉丁区一家小小公寓的五层楼上，一间充满煤气和洋葱味的小屋子里，我寂寞，我痛苦，在阳光难照到的房间里，我想念祖国，想念亲人。)

It was partly owing to boredom when Li began to write his first novel, Miewang (“Destruction”) on a jotterbook. In France, Li continued his anarchist activism, translated many anarchist works, including Kropotkin's Ethics, into Chinese, which was mailed back to Shanghai anarchist magazines for publication. Alexander Berkman was one of many anarchist leaders he met there.

The trials of Italian immigrants Sacco and Vanzetti filled the fervent writer with anger and Ba Jin worked tirelessly to champion their release. Vanzetti apparently was moved enough to reply to the young man from his American prison, with a package of anarchist texts for his readings. Their short correspondence ceased when Vanzetti was executed, along with Sacco, on August 23, 1927.

Shanghai

On his return to Shanghai in 1928, Ba Jin continued writing and working on translations. His first novel, Destruction, was released serially by Fiction Monthly in 1929, a foremost literary magazine and earned him many admirers.

During the next 10 years, Li acted as editor to several important publishing firms and periodicals, as well as composing the works which he is best known for – Family (1931), The Love Trilogy Fog (1931), Rain (1933) and Lightning (1935), the novellas Autumn in Spring and A Dream of the Sea, the short story collection Mengya (“Germination”) and prose writings in Fuchou ("Vengeance") and Shen, Gui, Ren ("Gods, Ghosts and Men").

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ba Jin was actively involved in propaganda work against the Japanese invasion, working on the publication Nahan (“Outcries”, later renamed Fenghuo, “Beacons”) with Mao Dun. In the later stages of the war, Ba Jin completed the famous Torrents Trilogy — of which Family (1931) was the first written — with Spring (1938) and Autumn (1940). Other works of the post-war period, like the short novels A Garden of Repose (1944), Ward No 4 (1946) and Cold Nights (1947), contain some of his strongest writings.

During the Cultural Revolution, Ba Jin was heavily persecuted as a counter-revolutionary. His wife, Xiao Shan, died during the Revolution after being denied medical care, and the manner of her death traumatized Ba Jin for the rest of his life. He was rehabilitated in 1977, after which he was elected to many important national literary posts, including chairman of the Chinese Writers' Association (since 1983). The most significant work of his later years is probably the discursive writings in Suixiang Lu (translated as "Random Thoughts", 5 volumes, composed between 1978 and 1986), in which, among other things, he reflected on the Cultural Revolution in a painfully honest manner and asked specifically for a Cultural Revolution Museum to be set up as a deterrent for future generations.

He spoke and advocated Esperanto and in the 1980s was the vice-president of the Chinese Esperanto League.

Ba Jin’s works were heavily influenced by foreign writers, including Emile Zola, Ivan Turgenev, Alexandr Herzen, Anton Chekhov, and Emma Goldman,^[1] and a substantial amount of his collected works are devoted to translations. His writing style, characterized by simplicity, avoids difficult, abstruse words, and most of his works would be easily understood by anyone with a high school education, making him one of the easiest modern Chinese writers to read.

Ba Jin suffered from Parkinson's Disease since 1983, an ailment which almost completely debilitated him. The illness confined him to a hospital unable to speak and walk toward the last few years of his life. Ba Jin died of cancer in Shanghai at the age of 100 (101 by Chinese reckoning). His death marked the end of an era for Chinese literature, especially since he was the last major writer to live through the May Fourth Movement. He received the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 1990.

Asteroid 8315 Bajin is named in his honour.

Bibliography

Translated into English

• (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 & 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, 2005.

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
• 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
• Snow and Dirt 《雪泥集》，1987
• Collected Letters of Ba Jin 《巴金书信集》， 1991

Others:

• A Battle For Life
• Partial excerpt of English translation of Ba Jin's dedication to Emma Goldman

See also

• List of Chinese authors
• Chinese literature

References

• Ayers, W. (1950). "Shanghai Labor and the May Thirtieth Movement," Papers on China, 5:1-38. Harvard University, East Asian Research Center.
• Bao-Puo. (1925). "The Anarchist Movement in China: From a Letter of a Chinese Comrade." Tr. from the Russian, in Freedom. 39.423:4.
• (1953). "The Society for Literary Studies, 1921-1930." Papers on China. 7:34-79. Harvard University, East Asian Research Center.
• Chen Tan-chen. (1963). "Pa Chin the Novelist: An Interview." Chinese Literature. 6:84-92.
• Ch'en Chia-ai character. "Chung-kuo li-shih shang chih an-na-ch'i-chu -i che character (Anarchists in Chinese history); in K'o-lu-p'ao-t'e-chin hsueh-shuo kai-yao. pp. 379-410.
• Hsin ch'ing-nien (1908). "Chinese Anarchist in Tokyo," Freedom, 22.23:52.
• Olga Lang, Pa Chin and His Writings: Chinese Youth between the Wars (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967)
• Martin, H. and J. Kinkley, eds. (1992) Modern Chinese writers: self-portrayals. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
• Razak, Dzulkifli Abdul (Oct. 30, 2005). "Leaving behind their legacies". New Straits Times, p. F9.
• Renditions Autumn 1992. No. 38. "Special issue on Twentieth Century Memoirs. Reminiscences by well-known literary figures, including Zhu Ziqing, Ba Jin, Lao She and Wang Xiyan."

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.

Notes

External links

• "Literary witness to century of turmoil" China Daily (2003-11-24)
• "Chinese literary icon Ba Jin dies" (BBC)
• "A giant of Chinese literature" ~ The Sydney Morning Herald' (21 October 2005)
• "Chinese Anarchist Author Ba Jin RIP" ~ Le Revue Gauche
• Ba Jin at Anarchist Archives
• "When the Snow Melted" Translated by Tang Sheng at Words Without Borders
• Pa Chin: A Literary and Revolutionary Chinese Anarchist

From Wikiquote

Loving truth and living honestly is my attitude to life. Be true to yourself and be true to others...

Li Yaotang 李尧棠 (or Li Feigan; Zi: 芾甘) (1904-11-25 – 2005-10-17) was a Chinese writer and anarchist; he was most famous under his pen name of Ba Jin (巴金, also written Pa Chin). He created this pseudonym in 1929 from the first syllable of Bakunin and of the last syllable of Kropotkin, the famous Russian anarchists.

Sourced

Only by not forgetting the past can we be the master of the future.

• He had never disagreed with anyone in his life, no matter how unfairly they may have treated him. He preferred to swallow his tears, suppress his anger and bitterness; he would bear anything rather than oppose a person directly. Nor did it ever occur to him to wonder whether this forbearance might not be harmful to others.
  • On the character Chueh-hsin (Juexin), in Family (1931)

• Victory is for them, not for us. We have not made profit out of our country's misfortune. Victory does not bring us luck.
  • The Cold Nights 寒夜 (1947)

• I felt a joy in my heart, which seemed filled with love, love for the sun, the snow, the wind and the hills, love for everything around me. It was in this mood that I walked down the snow-covered path dotted with black footprints. Further down the footprints mingled and made dirty little puddles. I picked my way over the thickest snow because I loved the crunching of snow underfoot. With the sunlight pouring down and a breeze in my face I felt that balmy spring was coming to meet me.
  • "When the Snow Melted" [Hua-Hsueh Ti Jih-Tzu] (1962), as translated by Tang Sheng at Words Without Borders

• You have your thoughts and I have mine. This is the fact and you can't change it even if you kill me.
  • Shouted out at the end of a televised public humiliation in the People's Stadium of Shanghai, during the "Cultural Revolution" (1968-06-20), as quoted in Pioneers of Modern China : Understanding the Inscrutable Chinese (2005) by Khoon Choy Lee

• I've lived on royalties all my life. It is the readers who have supported me.
  • "Chinese Modern Literature Laureate Expected to Become Centenarian" in People's Daily (13 August 2001)

• I write just because the fire of my emotion is burning. Had I not, I would not have been able to find peace.
  • As quoted in "Literary witness to century of turmoil" in China Daily (24 November 2003)

• Before my eyes are many miserable scenes, the suffering of others and myself forces my hands to move. I become a machine for writing.
  • As quoted in "Literary witness to century of turmoil" in China Daily (24 November 2003)

We cannot forget what had happened and history should not repeat itself.

• Only by not forgetting the past can we be the master of the future.
  • As quoted "Literary witness to century of turmoil" in China Daily (24 November 2003)

• I am a person always full of contradictions... It was hard to choose whether to devote myself to revolution as a soldier or as a writer.
  • As quoted in "Living legend : Ba Jin" in News Guangdong (2003-11-26)

• Loving truth and living honestly is my attitude to life. Be true to yourself and be true to others, thus you can be the judge of your behavior.
  • As quoted in "Living legend: Ba Jin" in News Guangdong (2003-11-26)]

• I believe in the future a new Dante will write a new Divine Comedy.
  • As quoted in "Ba Jin: A Century of Literary Greatness" at the China Internet Information Center

• Nobody would say the cowshed was heaven and nobody would say the inhuman torture of so many victims be called a revolution of the proletariat. ... A museum should be established to remind China of the follies and disasters that had fallen from 1966 to 1976. We cannot forget what had happened and history should not repeat itself.
  • As quoted in Pioneers of Modern China : Understanding the Inscrutable Chinese (2005) by Khoon Choy Lee

Dedication to Emma Goldman

Partial excerpt of English translation of Ba Jin's dedication to Emma Goldman

• Now my education, life and consciousness are talked about by those who cannot understand what I wrote, what I think, what is my life. They make me up from their subjective imagination and attack me publicly as well as secretly. Because my novels completely obscure my behaviour and ideas, and result in a lot of misunderstandings, my name is related to nihilism or humanism, although I have written a book of over three hundred pages to explain my ideas (this book is very easy to understand and without a metaphysical term). Those who talk about me never read it. They judged my ideas according to one of my short stories, then deduced a variety of strange conclusions and decided which doctrine I belong to. I have been caught in this predicament all these years and cannot get rid of it...

• Today I read your autobiography in two volumes, Living My Life. These two books full of life, shocked me greatly. Your roaring of forty years like spring thunder, knocked at the door of my living grave throughout the whole book. At this time, silence lost its effect, the fire of my life was lit, I want to come to life and go through great anguish, immeasurable joy, dark despair and enthusiastic hope, throughout the peak and the abyss of life. I will calmly go on living with an attitude you taught me until I spend my whole life.

A Battle For Life (July 1958)

He had read of people with such public spirit and unselfish character only in novels. He had regarded them as nothing but ideal, imaginary creations of literary writers. Now he has seen such a hero in the flesh with his own eyes.

Online text

• According to the world's highest medical authorities, burns extending over 75 per cent of a person's body are regarded as likely to prove fatal. The burns of these two patients were not only extensive but also deep, even involving their muscles in many places. Therefore all the experienced surgeons frowned, shook their heads, and expressed their utter inability to save the lives of these men. One of them said, "It is only a matter of three or four days." Another suggested, "At most three days." Still a third one said, "Whether medicine is used or not is immaterial, for in spite of all efforts the patients will die." Everybody seemed to agree on one conclusion "death." In this way the joint consultation was concluded in a very pessimistic and hopeless atmosphere. On the basis of mortality statistics in international medical literature it seemed that these badly burned patients were doomed to die.
  But the Party organization of the hospital would not agree to such a pessimistic view. The secretary of the general Party branch and the assistant secretary of the medical department branch immediately summoned the doctors treating the patients for a talk, and following that a meeting of all the responsible doctors was convened. The problem was analysed from a class viewpoint, and it was stressed that in capitalist countries it was impossible to obtain the full use of all resources to save the lives of burned workers, but that in our socialist country it was possible to mobilize everything available to save them. For this reason we should not always accept the medical statistics of capitalist countries and allow them to influence us. The Party secretary called the attention of the doctors specially to the following points: First, that they must try to rid themselves of their blind reliance on established bourgeois medical experience, and they must try to think, speak and act in bold new ways. Secondly, they must follow the mass line and depend more upon the power of the people. Finally he said, "The Party will do everything possible to save these steel workers who have created vast wealth for the nation."

• When they accepted their assignments they were not very confident, especially the assistant head surgeon who simply believed in his own past experience, in the statistics of international medical literature, and in the medical equipment and resources of the hospitals in capitalist countries. Therefore when he first heard the talk of the vice-superintendent, who was the secretary of the general Party branch, he had some inner feeling of resistance. He thought to himself, "This is simply coercing people to try and do the impossible! But since I have accepted the assignment I'll do what I can. At any rate, the patients will die either in the shock stage or later." With such downhearted feelings he entered the ward to see his patients.

• Looking at this immensely swollen face in front of him the doctor gently consoled the patient, "Comrade, don't worry and you will recover." As a matter of fact, he was thinking quite the opposite, "You will die. I can be of no more help."

• Later the assistant chief surgeon told people that he had been a surgeon for eleven years, had seen not a few patients die and consequently had become quite cold and indifferent. He was interested only in diseases as such and had no feelings for his patients as people. But what Chiu Tsai-kang had said impressed him deeply. Even after he left the patient's room he thought it over for quite a long while. Here was a man awaiting death who had to clench his teeth to endure the searing pain of his whole body, but who constantly had the nation's steel production on his mind and who wholeheartedly desired to return to his furnace. In the past, he had read of people with such public spirit and unselfish character only in novels. He had regarded them as nothing but ideal, imaginary creations of literary writers. Now he has seen such a hero in the flesh with his own eyes.

• When alone he secretly shook his head. But suddenly he recalled the analysis made by the Party secretary regarding "two kinds of social system, two attitudes, and therefore two different results." He felt as if he had seen a ray of light in the darkness. He said to himself, "Lao Chiu can endure pain of such magnitude, and in spite of his burns he is always thinking of going back to the furnace. He wants to live. Why should he not be able to live?" That moment, suddenly the doctor and the patient were drawn closely together. From then on, the doctor thought of the patient often and also tried to compare himself with Lao Chiu. The more he compared the more he felt ashamed of himself and the more eager he was to do his best for this worker. So, from the very first day the assistant surgeon learned something from his patient.

• The doctors realized very clearly that their minds and emotions were changing from day to day. On the one hand they were healing the patient, and on the other it looked as if they were healing themselves too. It was this chief surgeon who first volunteered to offer his skin when grafting began.

The battle to save life is still going on.

• This was a good beginning. All the outmoded rules of the hospital were broken. Minds which had been tied down by subservience to foreign experience were now set in motion. People began to speak, to think and to act boldly. A new world opened in front of them. They knew that what they were doing now was something unprecedented which doctors in capitalist countries had not been able to do. They were engaged in a battle to save lives and as the scope of the battle became wider an increasing number of people were drawn in. Later on when a difficulty occurred in the course of treatment they solicited the opinions of many doctors both within and without the hospital, depending on the wisdom of the many to tide over one crisis after another.

• The changes in the chief and the assistant chief surgeon were most noticeable. At first they felt that they were just fulfilling their duty to the injured worker but were very dubious about the result. But then, full of confidence they really began doing their best.

• Lao Chiu's burns were so extensive that, with the exception of his scalp, two shoulders, the waist where his leather belt was worn and the soles of his feet, pratically his whole body was affected. His back and hips were burned deeply and his right leg was even worse. Every time it was necessary to turn him over and change his dressings ten doctors and five nurses were required and the process took several hours. Moreover, the patient suffered very much and was short of breath for a long while.

• During all these days Lao Chiu was lying on the bed suffering continual pain. The doctors and nurses did their utmost to reduce his suffering to the minimum, but they could not completely relieve it. Even the chief surgeon said once, "When we were healing him I often thought that if another person was in his place he certainly would not have stood it so long, but Lao DChiu endured everything. When I saw him grinding his teeth to suppress his groans, I felt so touched that the tears feel from my eyes." Indeed he suffered great pain for a long period. While changing the dressings even laughing gas anaesthesia could not keep him quiet. Sometimes these pains were so intense that his whole body trembled uncontrollably.

• The battle to save life is still going on. Up till now Lao Chiu has already lived for forty-four days. He lives on stubbornly and endures all suffering. Already he has become a banner, a fresh red banner. Many people regard him as a source of encouragement and as a model for them. Many consider him as a personification of the noble qualities of the working class and as a shining example of the great spirit of communism.
  This battle to save life will eventually be won. The fact that Lao Chiu has lived until now is already a medical marvel. He has passed through one crisis after another and later he may face still more. But he will certainly live. Blind faith in established experience has been shattered, outmoded regulations have been smashed.

External links

Wikipedia has an article about:

Ba Jin

• Ba Jin at Anarchist Archives
• "When the Snow Melted" (1962), as translated by Tang Sheng at Words Without Borders
• "Literary witness to century of turmoil" in China Daily (24 November 2003)
• "Chinese literary icon Ba Jin dies" at BBC News (18 October 2005)
• "A giant of Chinese literature" in The Sydney Morning Herald' (21 October 2005)
• Obituary in The Times (25 October 2005)