Li Yaotang (simplified Chinese: 李尧棠; traditional Chinese: 李堯棠; pinyin: Lǐ Yáotáng; 25 November 1904 – 17 October 2005), better known by his pen nameBa Jin (Chinese: 巴金; pinyin: Bā Jīn) or his courtesy nameLi Feigan (Chinese: 李芾甘; pinyin: Lǐ Fèigān), was a Chinese anarchist, translator, and writer. In addition to his impact on Chinese literature, he also wrote three original works in Esperanto,[3] and as a political activist he wrote The Family.
He was born as Li Yaotang,[1] with alternate name Li Feigan or Li Pei Kan (inWade–Giles).[2][4] The first word of his pen name may have been taken from Ba Enbo, his classmate who committed suicide in Paris, which was admitted by himself,[5][6] or from the first syllable of the surname of the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin;[7][1] and the last character of which is the Chinese equivalent of the last syllable of Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin (克鲁泡特金, Ke-lu-pao-te-jin).[8][9][10]
On November 25, 1904, Li Yaotang was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, into a wealthy Li family. The family's wealth came mainly from the land acquired by his grandfather and father when they were officials, and Li Yaotang sometimes described his family as a "typical landlord's family".[11][12] In 1919, Ba read Kropotkin's An Appeal to the Young and converted to anarchism.[13]
It was partly owing to boredom that Ba Jin began to write his first novel, Miewang灭亡 (“Destruction”).[14] In France, Ba Jin continued his anarchist activism, translating many anarchist works, including Kropotkin's Ethics, into Chinese, which was mailed back to Shanghai's anarchist magazines for publication.[15]
During the Cultural Revolution, Ba Jin was heavily persecuted as a counter-revolutionary.[1] His wife since 1944, Xiao Shan, died of cancer in 1972.[1] He asked that a Cultural Revolution Museum be set up in 1981.[16] The Shantou Cultural Revolution Museum referenced the influence of Ba Jin on its establishment through displaying a depiction of his at the entrance[17] as well as a quote of his, "Every town in China should establish a museum about the Cultural Revolution."[18]
(1954) Living Amongst Heroes. Beijing: Foreign Language Press.
(1958) The Family. (trans. Sidney Shapiro) Beijing: Foreign Language Press.
(1959) A battle for life: a full record of how the life of steel worker, Chiu Tsai-kang, was saved in the Shanghai Kwangrze Hospital. Beijing: Foreign Language Press.
(1978) Cold Nights (trans. Nathan K. Mao and Liu Ts'un-yan) Hong Kong: Chinese University press.
(1984) Random Thoughts (trans. Germie Barm&ecute). Hong Kong: Joint Publishing Company. (Partial translation of Suizianglu)
(1988) Selected works of Ba Jin (trans. Sidney Shapiro and Jock Hoe) Beijing: Foreign Language Press. (Includes The Family, Autumn in Spring, Garden of Repose, Bitter Cold Nights)
(2005) "How to Build a Society of Genuine Freedom and Equality"(1921), "Patriotism and the Road to Happiness for the Chinese"(1921) and "Anarchism and the Question of Practice"(1927) in Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas, Volume 1: From Anarchy to Anarchism (300CE-1939), ed. Robert Graham. Montreal: Black Rose Books.
^"Pa Kin, grande figure de la littérature chinoise du XXe siècle". Le Monde (in French). 2005-10-18. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 17 June 2021. le "Pa" n'a rien à voir avec Bakounine (prononcé en chinois Pa-ku-ning), mais s'inspire d'un certain Pa Enbo, un ami chinois de Château-Thierry qui s'était suicidé en se jetant dans une rivière.
^Jaroslav Průšek and Zbigniew Słupski, eds., Dictionary of Oriental Literatures: East Asia (Charles Tuttle, 1978): 135-136.
^See Angel Pino, “Ba Jin as Translator,” tr. Ian MacCabe, in Peng Hsiao-yen & Isabelle Rabut (eds.), Modern China and the West: Translation and Cultural Mediation. Leiden-Boston: Brill, “East Asian Comparative Literature and Culture” (2), 2014, 28-105.
^He described Goldman as his "spiritual mother", and dedicated The General to her. See Preface, The General, and Olga Lang, Pa Chin and His Writings: Chinese Youth Between the Wars (Harvard University Press, 1967).
Chen Tan-chen. (1963). "Pa Chin the Novelist: An Interview." Chinese Literature. 6:84-92.
Ch'en Chia-ai character. "Chung-kuo li-shih shang chih an-na-ch'i-chu -i che character (Anarchists in Chinese history); in K'o-lu-p'ao-t'e-chin hsueh-shuo kai-yao. pp. 379-410.
Hsin ch'ing-nien (1908). "Chinese Anarchist in Tokyo," Freedom, 22.23:52.
Martin, H. and J. Kinkley, eds. (1992) Modern Chinese writers: self-portrayals. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Pino, Angel, “Ba Jin and the ‘Arshinov Platform’”. libcom.org
Pino, Angel, “Ba Jin as Translator,” tr. Ian MacCabe, in Peng Hsiao-yen & Isabelle Rabut (eds.), Modern China and the West: Translation and Cultural Mediation. Leiden-Boston: Brill, “East Asian Comparative Literature and Culture” (2), 2014, 28-105.
Pino, Angel; Jean Jacques Gandini (Introductionà; Paul Sharkey (Traduction) (10 March 2013). Ba Jin On Anarchism and Terrorism. ChristieBooks.
Razak, Dzulkifli Abdul (Oct. 30, 2005). "Leaving behind their legacies". New Straits Times, p. F9.
Renditions Autumn 1992. No. 38. "Special issue on Twentieth Century Memoirs. Reminiscences by well-known literary figures, including Zhu Ziqing, Ba Jin, Lao She and Wang Xiyan."
Return from Silence: Five prominent and controversial Chinese writers speak on their roles in the modernization of China. (1 hour video cassette available) — The life and work of five esteemed Chinese writers whose modern classics shaped China's past: Ba Jin, Mao Dun, Ding Ling, Cao Yu, and Ai Qing. Produced by Chung-wen Shih, George Washington University, 1982.
