Shanghai Daily news

The death of renowned writer Ba Jin - "the last giant of a whole era" - is being mourned across China and around the world. Fan Meijing looks back over the life and work of China's great "People's Writer"
On Monday evening, millions of Chinese lovers of books were saddened by the death of Ba Jin, one of China's most revered writers of the 20th century.
Ba, who died at the age of 101, drew his last breath in a ward of the Huadong Hospital in Shanghai. He had fought with malignant mesothelium cell tumor, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses for the past six years.
Although he died without a word of farewell, his enormous literary output and his spirit that have been the inspiration for generations of Chinese will go on living in the hearts of the Chinese people, now and long into the future.
"He is the last giant of a whole era, the last of all the major writers who were active in the first half of the 20th century," said famous writer Zhao Lihong. "For so many years, he's been a symbol of that era and it now passes into legend with his departure."
Born in Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Ba, whose real name is Li Yaotang, has been widely recognized as one of greatest masters of Chinese culture in modern times as well as being an outstanding publisher and editor.
He wrote and translated many books, including novels, short stories, works of prose and essays - a total of 13 million words by the end of his life.
His major works include "The Love Trilogy: Fog, Rain, Lightning" (1931-35), "The Torrent Trilogy: Family, Spring, Autumn" (1933-40), "A Dream of Sea" and "Autumn in Spring," all of which were viewed as landmarks in modern Chinese culture.
He chose the pen name "Ba Jin" in memory of Baranpo, one of his schoolmates in France in the 1920s who committed suicide because he had come to detest the world and its ways. "Jin" was proposed by a Russian schoolmate who was studying philosophy.
Ba was born on November 25, 1904, into the family of an important Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) official and received a good education from private tutors. He grew up to be a high-spirited youth who rebelled against the constraints of life in a family living in a feudal society. At the age of 19, he moved to Shanghai, and then to Nanjing, now the capital of neighboring Jiangsu Province.
In 1926, he went to study in France and lived at a small inn where he felt the pangs of love and sadness, hope and desperation. There he wrote his first novel, "Mie Wang" ("Destruction"), which explored the soul of an intellectual eager to overturn a corrupt world but who can't find the right way to do it.
"Even in my dreams I never thought that I would become a novelist," Ba once said. "I started writing for my own self-salvation."
Later, he completed "The Torrent Trilogy," his most celebrated anti-feudal work. The three novels came from his early life in a feudal family and convey to the reader the strong emotions of love and hatred.
"I've been reading Ba's books since I was very young. His words are always inspiring and deserve respect," said Zhou Weizhi, president of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. "Ba spoke out for truth from the beginning to the end and we will always be inspired by the power of his personality."
In 1978, Ba published another important work, the 1.5 million-word "Suixiang Lu" ("Random Thoughts") in which he wrote about his past life and experiences.
In all his writings, Ba displayed his concern not only for the nation's past but for its future as well.
In 1985, several students in Wuxi in Jiangsu Province wrote to Ba of their puzzlement about the modern world. They said that society tended to make "money" its primary goal and they found this depressing. They described themselves as "lost lambs."
Ba, then sick in bed, spent three weeks writing a 3,000-word reply to the students in which he discussed the meaning and essence of idealism.
He loved children all his life.
"I have always yearned to see pure, young souls and I will never forget them all my life," he once said.
Zhao Changtian, vice president of Shanghai Writers' Association, said what impressed him most about Ba was his dedication to writing.
"He was still writing when he was in his 90s and every word put down on paper was by his own hand," he recalled. "Even during his final years when he was suffering from Parkinson's disease and he had difficulty in moving, he persisted in writing by hand."
In his works, Ba again and again put forward his plea that "life should be allowed to blossom."
"People ask me what's the meaning of the phrase and I tell them: 'Man lives not just to eat but to add some color to society. Only when man devotes his life to helping others, will it be in full blossom'," he said. "My hope is simple - to open my heart to my readers and to serve them."
In 2003, the State Council awarded Ba the title of "People's Writer."
Ba met his wife Xiao Shan in 1936 when he was 32. She died from cancer in 1972.
Xiao was an admirer of Ba who already was an established figure in literary circles at that time. They met after she wrote a letter to him and they kept up a correspondence for several months in which they shared their ideas about literature and life.
Eight years after their first meeting Ba proposed and they were married in 1944.
After Xiao's death, Ba insisted on keeping the urn containing her ashes beside him, at first in his bedroom and then in his hospital ward after his admission in 1999.
"I like to see the container in my bedroom," Ba told anyone who tried to persuade him to bury Xiao's ashes. "It makes me feel like she's always at my side."
Ba is survived by a daughter, Li Xiaolin, and a son, Li Xiaotang.