Yang Jiang
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Yang Jiang Dies at 104; Revered Writer Witnessed China’s Cultural Revolution
By AMY QINMAY 26, 2016 BEIJING — Yang Jiang, a Chinese author, playwright and translator whose stoically restrained memoir of the Cultural Revolution remains one of the most revered works about that period, died on Wednesday in Beijing. She was 104. Her death was announced by state-run news media, including People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, a sign of the esteem with which Ms. Yang was held. She and her husband, Qian Zhongshu, the author of the novel “Fortress Besieged,” were already acclaimed writers when Mao Zedong inaugurated the Cultural Revolution to root out ideological foes in 1966. At the time, Ms. Yang was working on a translation of “Don Quixote,” a formidable undertaking. After deeming several English and French translations unsuitable, she taught herself Spanish. “If I wanted to be faithful to the original, I had to translate directly from the original,” she wrote in 2002. Ms. Yang had completed almost seven out of eight volumes of the translation when Red Guard student militants confiscated the manuscript from her home in Beijing. Like other foreign-trained academics and artists, Ms. Yang and Mr. Qian, both nearly 60 years old at the time, were consigned to “reform through labor” and sent to the countryside in Henan Province, in central China, where they remained for several years. “I worked with every ounce of energy I could muster, gouging at the earth with a spade, but the only result was a solitary scratch on the surface,” Ms. Yang wrote. “The youngsters around me had quite a laugh over that.” As the Cultural Revolution subsided, Ms. Yang returned to Beijing to work on “Don Quixote.” The nearly completed draft that had been confiscated by Red Guards is said to have been discovered in a pile of scrap paper and returned to Ms. Yang. Published in 1978, it remains widely regarded as the definitive translation of “Don Quixote” in China. Ms. Yang’s other famous work is her memoir, “Six Chapters From My Life ‘Downunder,’” published in 1981, which powerfully recalls her years in Henan. Avoiding the melodramatic tone of many other memoirs of the turbulent Cultural Revolution, she relied on understated, sometimes wry prose to recount everyday life at the “cadre school” for purged officials and scholars: digging a well, tending to her vegetable plot, befriending a puppy. Her tone turned stoic, however, in recalling the suicide of her son-in-law, who had been subjected to constant criticism from his peers for showing reactionary tendencies. Howard Goldblatt, the English translator of “Six Chapters,” called it “deeply personal and broadly representative of the ‘mundane’ lives of intellectuals during that time” — in contrast, he said, to the tales of violence and victimization often found in other Cultural Revolution-era memoirs. At the end of the book, Ms. Yang concludes: “After undergoing more than 10 years of reform, plus two years at the cadre school, not only had I not reached the plateau of progressive thinking that everyone sought, I was nearly as selfish now as I was in the beginning. I was still the same old me.” The book brought literary fame to Ms. Yang, then 70. “‘Six Chapters’ gave people a new sense of dignity,” said Christopher Rea, an associate professor of modern Chinese literature at the University of British Columbia and the editor of a book on Mr. Qian and Ms. Yang’s writings. “It helped them emerge from the Cultural Revolution as individuals, not just as victims.” Yang Jiang was born Yang Jikang in Beijing on July 17, 1911, the year China’s last imperial dynasty was overthrown. Under the guidance of her father, a legal scholar, she studied political science at Soochow University and later enrolled at Tsinghua University in Beijing, where she met Qian Zhongshu, her classmate in the department of foreign languages and literatures. They married in 1935 and moved to England, where Mr. Qian studied at Oxford University. There Ms. Yang gave birth to the couple’s only child, a daughter, Qian Yuan. After a year in Paris, the family moved back to China in 1938, the year after Japan’s invasion of China. In the 1940s, Ms. Yang found unexpected success as a playwright in wartime Shanghai with a series of witty comedies. After the Communists took power in 1949, the couple moved to Beijing, where Ms. Yang taught and worked on translation projects. In 1988, after the success of “Six Chapters” and “Don Quixote,” Ms. Yang published a novel, “Baptism,” which depicted the lives of Chinese intellectuals in the 1950s. “For Yang Jiang, everything was a ‘trial,’” The People’s Daily said in a remembrance. “These trials showed her calm and simple state of mind, her lack of desire for fame or wealth.” Ms. Yang often wrote about deeply personal topics, including her relationship with Mr. Qian. After the deaths of her daughter in 1997 and Mr. Qian in 1998, she channeled her grief into her work, which included a translation from English of Plato’s “Phaedo” and a partly fictionalized family memoir, “We Three.” “We three have scattered, leaving only me behind to clean up the scene,” Ms. Yang wrote. “I am alone, missing us three.”
A family besieged now beloved
This article was originally published on China Daily on Nov 17, 2003. Two individuals, each with a strong spirit but vulnerable heart, encountered each other, married and gave birth to a daughter. In their 60 years together the small family of three members went through war, political turmoil and illness in their repeated returns, but all the while they were always there for each other. But eventually death called away two of them, leaving one lonely survivor in the winter of her life. Today, the lives of the three individuals, captured by the pen of the family's only surviving member in an autobiography titled "The Three of Us (Wo Men Sa)," has been on the best-seller list ever since it was published on June 25 by Sanlian Publishing House. Its first printing of 30,000 copies sold out in 12 days. Since then, it has been re-printed nine times. The readers are curious because the writer is Yang Jiang, 92, who is already a renowned author in her own right, and a scholar and translator of foreign literature as well. Her husband, Qian Zhongshu (1910-98), was one of the 20th century's greatest Chinese scholars and an authority in Chinese classical history, philosophy and literature, as well as in comparative culture and literature. He had a consummate mastery of the entire range of classical Chinese texts as well as an extensive knowledge of the Greek, Latin, English, German, French, Spanish and Italian classics. Qian's only novel "Fortress Besieged (Weicheng)," first published in 1947, has enthralled generations of young readers with its humour, profound wisdom and unique insights into human nature. Readers find it hard to put down this new memoir by Yang Jiang, with its intimate and heartfelt narration, something quite different from her previous works, as it takes them into this modest household that has yielded so much admirable scholarship. Their daughter, Qian Yuan (1937-97), was a professor of English with Beijing Normal University, and was in charge of evaluating the teaching of English in all teachers' colleges in China for the then State Education Commission. But life was not always smooth sailing for the family. Aside from their love for their work and one another, the world around them confronted them with confusion and chaos. The readers join the young couple in their daily shopping for fresh groceries from a small store on the street corner near their temporary home close to Oxford University in England. They share not only their joy at having a new member in their family, their daughter Ah Yuan (Qian Yuan's childhood name, which meant 'round,' as her face was plump), but also their uneasiness through the years of war, political movements, separations and reunions. As the three protagonists cope with life's twists and turns, the readers get to know the details behind their much respected scholarly achievements. Tiny sprout Qian Yuan's story forms the most touching part of the family memoir. In fact, the daughter was the first to suggest writing a book about their family. She wrote five chapters but left the work unfinished. Six years after the passing away of her daughter, and five years after the demise of her husband, Yang Jiang set out to finish what her daughter had started. Though Yang is extremely reserved in talking about the literary and scholarly accomplishments of her husband and herself, she does not hold back her high regard for her daughter. Ah Yuan's first English sentence in her life was, "Baby yes eat," in response to her father's repeated "Baby no eat!" In vivid language, Yang portrays her daughter sharing the same quirks and the same ingenuity as Qian Zhongshu. Yang proudly claims, "Ah Yuan was the masterpiece of my life!" Her father deemed her "material suitable for high training," and her grandfather thought she was "a seed born for intellectual undertakings." In poor health, she was forced to carry manure buckets in high school, to study under peasants and workers while in college, and sent to do political work at a factory after graduation. Still in poor health, Ah Yuan continued to work hard and excel in her career as a highly-respected university professor of English. Yang only regrets that Ah Yuan had no chance to finish many of the things she had set out to do in her life. "Tried and tempered innumerable times, she was all along nothing but a seed, putting forth only tiny sprouts. As her parents, our hearts cannot be soothed," laments Yang. Two sides of a coin Despite his academic achievements, Qian Zhongshu didn't move into the public spotlight until 1990, when his only novel was adapted into a hit television drama serial broadcast nationwide. His wit, his enjoyment of the ironies of life, and his prodigious erudition impress almost every reader and viewer of his "Fortress Besieged." But through the loving eyes of his wife, readers get a glimpse of some other interesting aspects of his personality. He is revealed to be extraordinarily awkward, for one thing, in dealing with practical daily problems. When Yang married him in 1935, she found that he could not distinguish his right from his left shoe, and grasped his chopsticks with his fist, like a baby. Yang also adds in some little known facts about their professional careers. According to Yang, most part of Qian's masterpiece, the "Pipe-Awl Collection (Guanzhui Pian )," was written in the middle 1970s, in the midst of the chaotic "cultural revolution" (1966-76). The English version of the book, translated by Qian himself, is "Limited Views: Essays on Ideas and Letters." The book was published by Harvard University Press in 1998. In the mid-70s when the book was written they were "exiled" from their former residence, and, for more than three years, lived first in Ah Yuan's dorm in the university where she worked, then in an office which belonged to the institute to which they were attached. During this period, Qian developed serious asthma and for some time was unable to walk or use a pen to write. According to Yang, the "Pipe-Awl Collection" was written in abstruse ancient Chinese in order to escape possible political repercussions during the "cultural revolution." At that time, fanatics could break into the house of renowned scholars like Qian and Yang at any time, and would cart away anything they thought "harmful" to the "political cause." Also during this period, Yang finished her eight-volume translation of "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes. "We never stopped reading and working no matter how difficult the situation was. For our work was our only enjoyment," she writes. Real or surreal Yang begins the first two chapters of "The Three of Us" with a recurring dream she used to have in which she was left alone by her husband in a hostile wilderness. The boundary between reality and illusion is blurred - as Qian was, in fact, hospitalized for almost four years before his death. In the dream, Qian, weak and emaciated, is hospitalized in a boat, attended by strangers. The house she and Qian lived in is no longer her home but an inn where she temporarily sojourns. Around her the environment is filled with incomprehensible devices and rules. The only comfort for her is her resourceful and immensely considerate daughter Ah Yuan, who spends most of her young life fulfilling duties required of her by others. One day, like a candle, Ah Yuan's life is snuffed out. During the days when she keeps commuting between the boat, the inn, and the suburb hospital where Ah Yuan is kept, Yang has the illusion that she is trudging along a desolate, ancient post road all alone. The road is tiresomely long, but she hopes it will never end. The dream leaves many readers in tears.
ROutpouring of tributes at Yang Jiang's death
WeChat and Weibo were flooded with tributes to the celebrated Chinese writer Yang Jiang who died at 105 in Beijing yesterday. Many people expressed their condolences about the death of Yang by posting Yang's photos and quotations on the Internet. "You three can finally get together in heaven," a netizen called "Vincent van Gogh has ears" said on the Sina Weibo. Yang's husband Qian Zhongshu, one of the greatest scholars in China in the 20th century, passed away in 1998 and their daughter Qian Yuan died in 1997. Yang is the only one left. Her autography The Three of Us (Wo Men San) written when she 93, featured the three family members and moved readers deeply. A Weibo user "lilyqwer702_983" said, "I started to read Yang's books when I was young. She is always so optimistic and her positive attitude moved me. She is my idol." Yang Jiang was not only highly respected by her readers, but also her friends and other writers and scholars. "To me, she is a magnificent lady of the 20th century. I rarely find anyone who can be as great as her in our time," said Ye Tingfang, a celebrated Chinese translator, also an old friend of Yang. Ye, 80 years old, still remembers the first time he saw Yang in the summer of 1964. "When I saw her, I thought she is a real lady. So elegant," Ye said. Ye also thought highly of Yang and her husband's relationship. "They are a good example of a perfect couple, affectionate to each other, and communicating like friends," Ye added. Quite apart from her fame as a writer and scholar, Yang's soul shone while she was on earth. Bai Ye, a literary critic, said, "She is straight. She will directly let people know who she likes or dislikes. To some extent, Yang is very innocent. When she aged, she was even a little childish." The death of Yang surprised Bai, who visited her right before the 2016 Chinese Lunar New Year. "At the time, her listening was not as good as before, yet her sprit was high as ever," Bai said. Yang's death has prompted many to take up her books again. 18 prose works, 9 novels, 3 plays and 3 essay collections are her legacy to her readers and followers. Among her Chinese translations of 4 classic novels, Don Quixote de la Mancha is regarded as the best Chinese version of the Spanish classic.
Knowledge Graph
Examples
1 In the field of modern and contemporary literature in China, Yang Jiang is a unique cultural scenery.
2 When Yang Jiang recalled the past experience, Xiao Feng revealed the truth of the conflict, whereupon they began the polemics.
3 After graduating from Soochow University in 1932, Yang Jiang enrolled in the graduate school of Tsinghua University where she met her husband Qian Zhongshu.
4 Mr. Yang Jiang creativity spanning 70 years and Shows us a unique intellectual life of comedy spirit.
5 This kind of humanistic spirit and ideal is just the base point and life source of Yang Jiang's prose_writing world.
6 The highly subtle and unique style in Yang Jiang's novel "Bathing" has an extremely close links with the narrative skills.