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Title: Ba Jin (1904–2005) Date: 2011 Source: *The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest*, Edited by Immanuel Ness. DOI: 10.1002/9781405198073.wbierp1759 Authors: Daniel Cairns Topics: biography, China, anarchist biography, Chinese Anarchism Published: 2020-05-10 06:44:43Z
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.
<biblio>
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.
</biblio>