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Ba Jin (Chinese: 巴金, also Pa Chin, penname of Li Yaotang or Li Feigan, born November 25, 1904) is a writer considered to be one of the most important and widely read amongst Chinese writers of the twentieth century. Taking his pseudonym from Russian anarchists Bakunin and Kropotkin, Ba Jin started composing his first works in the late 1920s.
Born in Chengdu, Sichuan, Li was born into a scholar-official family where his paternal grandfather ruled with an iron hand. In 1920 he enrolled into Chengdu Foreign Language Specialist School. Three years later, Li moved to Shanghai and then to Nanjing on the pretext of study to escape the feudalistic influence of his family. In 1927, he traveled to and studied in France, where he first used the pen-name Ba Jin and began composing, writing his first novel, Miewang (“Destruction”). On his return to Shanghai in 1928, Li continued writing and working on translations. During the next 10 years, Li acted as editors to several important publishing firms and periodicals, as well as composed the works which he is best known for – The Family (1933), The Love Trilogy Fog (1931), Rain (1933) and Lightning (1935), the novellas Autumn in Spring and A Dream of the Sea, the short story collection Mengya (“Germination”) and prose writings in Fuchou ("Vengeance") and Shen, Gui, Ren ("Gods, Ghosts and Men").
During the Sino-Japanese war, Li was actively involved in anti-Japanese propaganda, working on the publication Nahan (“Outcries”, later renamed Fenghuo, “Beacons”) with Mao Dun. In the latter stages of the war Li completed the Torrents Trilogy -- of which The Family was the first -- with Spring (1938) and Autumn (1940). Other works of post-war period, like the short novels A Garden of Repose (1944), Ward No 4 (1946) and Cold Nights (1947), contain some of his strongest writings.
During the Cultural Revolution, Li was heavily persecuted as a counter-revolutionary. He was rehabilitated in 1977, after which he was elected to many important national literary posts. The major work of his late years is probably the discursive writings in Zaxiang Lu, translated as "Random Thoughts", composed between 1978 and 1986.
Ba Jin’s works are heavily influenced by foreign writers, including Emile Zola, Ivan Turgenev and Anton Chekhov. Ba Jin has been suffering from Parkinson's Disease since the 1990s, an ailment which has now almost completely debilitated him.
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