Ba Jin, literary anti-feudal maestro, recalled as hero
25/10/2005 8:43
The soul of Ba Jin, one of the greatest literary maestros in China, will
always be remembered by Chinese readers and will shine as a bright star in
heaven, said Yu Chunchao, a Tsinghua University student.
Yu, unlike most of
his compatriots in 1980s, adored Ba Jin as his personal spiritual
instructor.
"Ba Jin dedicated all his life to showing people the utmost true
side of his heart, therefore he received people's love and respect," Yu
said.
Born in Chengdu city, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Ba Jin was
widely recognized as one of the greatest masters in modern Chinese cultural
history and a publisher and editor. Ba Jin was born Li Yaotang or Li Fugan. His
main works, including "Family," "Spring," "Autumn," "The Trilogy of Love," "A
Dream of Sea" and "Autumn in Spring," are viewed as landmarks of modern Chinese
culture.
"Ba Jin always tried to speak truth in his whole life," said Cong
Weixi, a well-known writer who opened up a new path of Chinese literature that
portrayed prison life.
Cong, suffering hardships brought about by a series of
political movements including the Cultural Revolution, was inspired by the
spirit of struggle in Ba Jin's works.
In 1983, Ba Jin presented Cong with a
collection of his masterpieces, among which there was "Random Thoughts," a long
memoir that reflects China's chaotic turmoil of Cultural Revolution. He calls
for human dignity and human rights and for self-examination, and asserts that
"thinking independently" and "daring to speak out the truth" can help avoid
another Cultural Revolution.
The "Random Thoughts" is once again a bestseller
following his death. Writers Press, which bought the copyrights of Ba Jin's
works, received many phone calls from around the country ordering the
book.
Li Guowen, another well-known writer, said Ba Jin represents the moral
resurrection of the Chinese literary circle. "The reason why Ba Jin dared to
speak the truth is that he loved his motherland and the people who long suffered
aggression and humiliation over the past century. His life-long goal is to write
and speak for the people."
"Ba had achieved his goal as all his people
commemorate him as a mirror of national spirit," said Liu Minhua, a Tsinghua
University student.
Xinhua News
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