Ba Jin, (November 25, 1904 – October 17, 2005), formally called Li Yaotang, courtesy name Fei Gan, is considered to be one of the most important and widely read Chinese writers of the 20th century.

Born in Chengdu, Sichuan, Li was born into a feudal bureaucrat family. Deeply affected by new ideas after the May 4th Movement, he began his personal anti-feudal struggle. In 1923, he left for Shanghai, Nanjing and other places to study, and began his literary career for half a century since then.

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. Ba Jin, thus, is honoured as "conscience of the 20th century Chinese literature".(Eastday/Jiang Wenran)