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Title: Ba Jin (1904–2005) Author: Daniel Cairns Date: 2011 Language: en Topics: anarchist biography, biography, China, Chinese Anarchism Source: *The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest*, Edited by Immanuel Ness. DOI: 10.1002/9781405198073.wbierp1759
The writer Ba Jin was born Li Yaotang, also named Feigan, to a wealthy
family in Sichuan. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature twice, he
is also considered to be one of the most influential Chinese writers of
the twentieth century. His pen name derives from the Chinese
transliterations of Bakunin and Kropotkin, both Russian anarchists he
admired. At the age of 15 he declared himself an anarchist, shortly
thereafter joining the Equality Society, a Chengdu-based revolutionary
anarchist group. Through the organ of this group, Ba Jin published his
first works, essays on Tolstoy and the Industrial Workers of the World
(IWW). In the 1920s Ba Jin became an accomplished anarchist propagandist
and translator, responsible for the first Chinese-language editions of
many anarchist texts, although his literary accomplishments in fiction
are better known. Yet, much of his fiction also addresses social and
cultural issues. For example, his renowned novel The Family deals with
the issue of oppression in the traditional Chinese family structure.
Throughout his career, save for the Japanese invasion of China, he was a
distinguished anti-militarist, if not necessarily a pacifist.
As an anti-statist, he was openly critical of the Guomindang
(Nationalist Party) GMD and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). However,
he was rehabilitated in the People’s Republic of China later in his
life, involving editing his complete works to suit the CCP. During the
Cultural Revolution, Red Guards targeted him for “reeducation;” he was
publicly thrashed and his library burned. He was arrested and sent to
labor camps until 1976. Reemerging from the ordeal, he distinguished
himself as a social commentator until his death.
Ba Jin. (1992) Family. Trans. S. Shapiro. Boston: Cheng, & Tsui.
Lang, O. (1967) Pa Chin and His Writings. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
Lau, J., & Goldblatt, H. (Eds.) (1995) The Columbia Anthology of Modern
Chinese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press.
Mao, N. (1978) Pa Kin. Boston: Twayne.
Zhelokhovtsev, A. (1984) Ba Jin: Writer and Patriot. Far Eastern Affairs
1: 120–32.