Ba Jin
Ba Jin, born Li Yaotang on November 25, 1904, in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, was a prominent Chinese anarchist writer known for his critiques of traditional family structures and social hierarchies. Educated in both modern languages and literature as well as Confucian classics, he became influenced by the May Fourth Movement and embraced anarchist ideals around 1919. After moving to Shanghai and Nanjing, Ba Jin lived in France for two years, where he began drafting his first novel, "Mie wang," and adopted his pseudonym by combining elements from the names of Russian anarchists Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin.
His literary contributions include several popular novels published in the early 1930s, with his most acclaimed work being the trilogy "Jiliu sanbuquo," which explores themes of family and societal critique. Although his writings supported movements that contributed to the Chinese Communist revolution, he faced criticism from the Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution, leading him to retreat from public life. Following the end of this tumultuous period, Ba Jin regained prominence, holding notable positions in various literary and political organizations. He continued to write until his death in 2005, leaving behind a legacy that has influenced generations of readers and writers in China.
Ba Jin
Chinese anarchist novelist and short fiction writer.
- Born: November 25, 1904
- Birthplace: Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Died: October 17, 2005
- Place of death: Shanghai, China
Biography
The Chinese anarchist writer Ba Jin (Pa Chin) was born on November 25, 1904, in the town of Chengdu in Sichuan provence. His birth name was Li Yaotang (courtesy name, Li Feigan); his family was wealthy and he received training in modern languages and literature in addition to the traditional Confucian education. Influenced by the May Fourth Movement, which challenged traditional Chinese social structures and expressed dissatisfaction with how the Treaty of Versailles ignored Chinese concerns, Ba Jin became interested in anarchist ideals around 1919.
In 1923, Ba Jin moved to Shanghai and then to Nanjing, attending a preparatory school for the Southeast China University and translating numerous anarchist pamphlets from around the world. In 1927, he moved to France for two years, reading and drafting his first novel, Mie wang. He derived his pseudonym during this time by combining syllables from the Chinese transliterations of the last names of the two Russian anarchist authors, Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin. Ba Jin’s official obituary claims the first syllable also refers to the name of a French schoolmate, Baranpo, who committed suicide to express his disillusionment with the world.
Mie wang was published when Jin returned to China in 1929, and he followed it with several very popular novels published between 1930 and 1934. His writing was always social in theme and challenged the family hierarchies that structured traditional Chinese society. This critique of the family recurs in his best-known work, the trilogy Jiliu sanbuquo, which consists of the three volumes Jia, Chun, and Qiu. In the 1930s, during the War of Resistance against Japan, Ba Jin traveled extensively throughout China, moving frequently but still serving on the All-China Federation of Writers and Artists.
Ba Jin’s novels are particularly noteworthy for their influence by foreign writers, not only the Russian anarchist writers who inspired his pseudonym but also literary figures, such as Emile Zola and Ivan Turgenev. Ironically, despite the fact that his books influenced the Chinese intellectual climate by supporting China’s Communist revolution, Ba Jin was often attacked by the Communists. He was elected to several literary and cultural groups after the People’s Republic of China was established, but he was sharply criticized as a counterrevolutionary during the Cultural Revolution and went into seclusion.
In 1977, after the Cultural Revolution had ended, he regained his public prominence and was elected to the National People’s Congress and the Standing Committee. He was vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and chairman of the Chinese Writers’ Association, beginning in 1981. In 1999, an asteroid discovered by a Chinese scientist was named after him, and in 2003 he was named the People’s Writer by the Chinese state.
Ba Jin was diagnosed with heart disease and Parkinson’s disease in the early 1980s and was frail, with numerous respiratory ailments including a tracheotomy in 1999, for the remainder of his life. He was diagnosed with cancer and died in the hospital in Shanghai in 2005, at the age of one hundred.
Author Works
Long Fiction:
Mie wang, 1929
Siqu de taiyang, 1931
Wu, 1931 (Aiqing de san bu qu trilogy)
Chuntian li de qiutian, 1932
Sha ding, 1932
Hai de meng, 1932
Yu, 1933 (Aiqing de san bu qu trilogy)
Jia, 1933 (Jiliu san bu qu trilogy; The Family, 1958)
Mengya, 1933 (revised as Hsueh, 1946)
Xinsheng, 1933
Dian, 1935 (Aiqing de san bu qu trilogy)
Chun, 1938 (Jiliu san bu qu trilogy)
Qiu, 1940 (Jiliu san bu qu trilogy)
Lina, 1940
Xing, 1941
Huo, 1941–45 (3 volumes)
Qi yuan, 1944
Di si bingshi, 1946 (Ward Four: A Novel of Wartime China, 1999; Haili Kong and Howard Goldblatt, translators)
Han ye, 1947 (Cold Nights, 1979)
Ying-hsiung ti ku-shih, 1953 (Living Amongst Heroes, 1954)
Nonfiction:
Hai xing, 1932
Lu tu sui bi, 1934
Ba Jin zi zhuan, 1934 (The Autobiography of Ba Jin, 2008; May-Lee Chai, translator)
Dian di, 1935
Sheng zhi chan hui, 1936
Yi, 1936
Duan jian, 1937
I-ch'ang wan chiu shêng ming ti chan tou, 1945 (with others; A Battle for Life: A Full Record of How the Life of Steel Worker Chiu Tsai-Kang Was Saved in the Shanghai Kwangtze Hospital, 1959)
Ba Jin jin zuo, 1978
Sui xiang lu, 1979–86 (5 volumes; Random Thoughts, 1984)
Ba Jin lun chuang zuo, 1983
Bing zhong ji, 1984
Tong nian de hui yi, 1984
Ba Jin shu jian: chu bian, 1987
Ba Jin shu xin ji, 1991
Ba Jin mei wen jing cui, 1993
Ba Jin shu jian: zhi Wang Yangchen, 1997
Bai nian ji liu: Bajin hui xiang lu, 2000
Ba Jin ri ji, 2004
Short Fiction:
Fu chou, 1931
Shen, Gui, Ren, 1935
Short Stories by Pa Chin, 1941 (also known as Short Stories by Pa Chin, with English Translation, 1963)
Children's and Young Adult Literature:
Chang sheng ta, 1937
Mingzhu he yuji, 1957
Ba Jin her ertong wenxue, 1990
Bibliography
Barboza, David. "Ba Jin, 100, Noted Novelist of Prerevolutionary China, Is Dead." The New York Times, 18 Oct. 2005, www.nytimes.com/2005/10/18/books/ba-jin-100-noted-novelist-of-prerevolutionary-china-is-dead.html. Accessed 16 June 2017. Ba Jin's obituary.
Huang, Yiju. Tapestry of Light: Aesthetic Afterlives of the Cultural Revolution. Brill, 2014. An account of the cultural aftermath of the Cultural Revolution.
Lang, Olga. Pa Chin and His Writings. Harvard UP, 1967. A biography of Ba Jin, covering his life from birth until the Chinese Communist takeover of mainland China. Includes descriptions of his works.
Stapleton, Kristin. Fact in Fiction: 1920s China and Ba Jin's Family. Stanford UP, 2016. Analyzes social change in China and Ba Jin's interpretations of it, using the first novel of his Turbulent Stream trilogy, Family.