During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ba Jin was actively involved in propaganda work against the Japanese invasion, working on the publication Na Han (“Outcries”, later renamed Feng Huo, “Beacons”) with Mao Dun. In the later stages of the war, Ba Jin completed the famous Torrents Trilogy — of which The Family (1931) was the first written — with Spring (1938) and Autumn (1940).

Beginning in July 1940, Ba Jin went around Kunming, Chongqing, Chengdu, Guilin, Guiyang and other places to work on the anti-Japanese cultural publicity activities.

Photo above is Ba Jin in Shanghai in 1940.(Eastday/Jiang Wenran)