Bing Xin's Life Experience

Bing Xin (October 5, 1900 - February 28, 1999), formerly known as Xie Wanying, was a native of Changle, Fujian, and a member of the China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD). She was a Chinese poet, modern writer, translator, children's author, social activist and essayist. Her pen name is Bingxin (冰心) which is derived from the phrase "a piece of ice in a jade pot" (一一片冰心在玉壶).

Bingxin published her first essay "Thoughts on the 21st Trial" and her first novel "Two Families" in the Morning Post in August 1919, and before and after she left China to study abroad in 1923, she began to publish her correspondence essays, collectively titled "Sending the Little Reader," which became the foundation of children's literature in China, and in 1946 she was appointed by the University of Tokyo to be the first foreign professor to teach "New Chinese Literature," a subject that was to become a major theme in the Chinese literature. In 1946, she was appointed as the first female foreign professor at the University of Tokyo to teach a course on "New Chinese Literature", and returned to China in 1951.

Bing Xin died at 21:12 on February 28, 1999, at the age of 99 in a Beijing hospital, and was known as the "Old Man of the Century".

October 5, 1900 Bing Xin was born in Fuzhou, three square seven lanes Xie family mansion (now Gulou District, Yangqiao East Road, No. 17), the mansion is also the former residence of Lin Jiumin, Bing Xin grandfather Xie Luangen from the family of Lin Jiumin purchased. In May of the following year, the family moved to Shanghai.

In 1903, because her father Xie Baozhang was commissioned as a naval training battalion commander, and at the same time responsible for the preparation of the naval school, moved with her father to Yantai, where she lived for eight years of her happy and colorful childhood. In Yantai, she began to read, during the home school enlightenment learning, has been in contact with the Chinese classical literature masterpieces, at the age of seven that read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin" and so on. At the same time, she also read the "Say Department Series" published by the Commercial Press, including the nineteenth-century critical realism of the famous British writer Diegens' The Remains of the Day and other works. [1]

In the August 1919 issue of the Morning Post, Bing Xin published her first essay, "Thoughts on the Twenty-First Day of the Trial," and her first novel, "Two Families," the latter using the term "Bing Xin" for the first time. The latter used the pen name "Bing Xin" for the first time. As her works directly touched on important social issues, they quickly became influential. The "problem novels" that followed, such as Shi Ren Duo Panga, Going to the Country, and Autumn Wind, Autumn Rain, and Sorrow, highlighted the destruction of human nature by the feudal family, the fierce conflict between two generations in the face of the New World, and the suffering brought to the people by the warlords' conflagration.

In 1923, Bingxin entered Yanjing University, where she was baptized in a pastor's home. After graduation, she went to Wellesley College in Boston to study English literature, specializing in literary studies. Before and after studying abroad, Bing Xin wrote essays on her travels and experiences in foreign countries and sent them back to China for publication, which were collected into the book "Send to the Little Reader", an early work of children's literature in China. In the same year, she received a scholarship with honors from Wellesley College for Women in the United States. [2]

Between 1929 and 1933, she wrote The Parting, The Return to the South, and The Winter Girl. She also translated The Prophet by the Syrian writer Kylo Gibran, and in late 1933 she wrote Our Wife's Parlor, the content of which became a literary case when it was suspected of alluding to Lin Huiyin.

After the victory in the war, he taught at the Department of New Chinese Literature at the University of Tokyo from 1949 to 1951, lecturing on the history of new Chinese literature, and publishing some short articles in local newspapers.

Bingxin returned to China from Japan in 1951, and during the Cultural Revolution, her family was raided and she was put into a "bullpen" where she was criticized under the scorching sun, and in the early 1970's, she was sent down to the Five-Seven Cadre School in Xianning, Hubei Province, to undergo labor reforms, and it was not until 1971, before the visit of U.S. President Richard Nixon to China, that Bingxin returned to Beijing with her husband Wu Wenzao to accept the task of translation. Bing Xin and her husband Wu Wenzao did not return to Beijing until 1971, before President Nixon's visit to China. At this time, she worked with Wu Wenzao and Fei Xiaotong to translate the Outline of World History, World History and other works. [3]

After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the motherland entered a new historical period, Bing Xin ushered in the second creative climax of her life. in June 1980, Bing Xin first suffered from cerebral thrombosis, and then a fracture, but she still insisted on creating, during this period, published the short story "The Empty Nest", which was honored with the National Award for Excellence in Short Stories. Then she created the masterpieces such as "All Things Are Superior ......" and "The Monk Who Came From Afar". In terms of prose, in addition to "Three Sendings of Little Readers", he created four groups of series of articles in a row, i.e., "Write When You Think of It", "My Autobiography", "About Men", and "Miscellany of Fushigi". The large number of works, the richness of their contents, and the unique style of their creation made her literary achievements reach a new level and a magnificent landscape in her later years. When she was nearly ninety years old, she published works such as "I Request", "I Thank", and "Letter to a Reader".

In September 1994 Bing Xin was admitted to Beijing Hospital due to weak heart function; on February 13, 1999 her condition deteriorated, and she died at nine o'clock in the evening of February 28 of the same year in Beijing Hospital at the age of 99 years old. After Bing Xin reported critically ill, Zhu Rongji, Li Ruihuan, Hu Jintao and other central leaders and the Chinese Writers Association leaders and writers on behalf of the hospital to visit her.

Bingxin in the portrayal of characters, most do not use heavy ink and color, but also less detailed carving, only with the sketch of the pen, a few strokes, the character image as if the hibiscus out of the water, freshly floating on the water. The Sixth Sister", "Winter Girl" and "Little Orange Lantern" portray the image of three young girls living in different times. Bing Xin has portrayed a series of ideal and perfect young women in her novels. Most of them are kind-hearted, gentle and beautiful, lively and generous, steady and dignified. They are youthful and energetic, and they win the dignity of women with their wisdom and talent; they gain the respect of men with their brilliant achievements in their own careers. In addition, there are a series of young people who love the motherland, a great mother who is compassionate and gentle, a reasonable grandmother, and a learned and interesting old professor, and many other images, revealing the warmth.

Bingxin's prose has a wide range of themes and deep meanings. Through the delicate description of her own experience, Bing Xin vividly and imaginatively reflects some aspects of China's turbulent and complex social life over the past century. In Bing Xin's prose, one can see the tragic scenes of the oppression and ravaging of the Chinese people by imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic buyers in the semi-colonial and semi-feudal old China, as well as the heroic people and patriotic young people rising up to fight back and struggling bravely. At the same time, Bing Xin's prose subject matter also extends to the history, geography, culture, customs of many countries in the world, as well as the suffering and struggle of the people, from which readers can obtain a wealth of international knowledge, such as the ancient culture of Egypt, India; the long history of Sino-Japanese relations; Italy's present and past; the folk art of Scotland, as well as the development of China's cultural exchanges with other countries around the world, the people of other countries around the world on the Chinese people's deep friendship, etc., giving a new person a new sense of humor. deep friendship of the world's people to the Chinese people, etc., giving new enlightenment.

Bingxin's novels are fewer in number, and more of them are fresh and timeless treasures. Many of her works seem to have simple plots, but they have far-reaching meanings and leave people with endless memories. She captures a fragment of real life, a chance in the journey of life, and shows one side of the intricate social life. There are no bizarre and twisted stories, no jingoistic feats, but a philosophical pursuit. She often observes society and scrutinizes life with a sharp eye; from the collision of human relationships, she bursts out sparks, captures the philosophies embedded in life, and sends out her own sentiments, which are rich in refreshing philosophical and poetic meanings.

In the structure of her novels, she mostly adopts a two-way structural framework, mirroring each other's format. She often uses two families, two characters, two events, two sides of the ocean as the main line, balanced development, the development of the end, but very different. Through the stark contrast, it enlightens people and gives them deep thoughts. In the novel's descriptive techniques, she often uses the technique of white description, with concise ink, without baking, sketching out a distinctive image, showing her unique poetic temperament.

Bingxin's works, often the time of the character's activities in the early morning, dusk, moonlit night; the activities of the scene set in the seaside, lakeside, parks, mountains, boat; with the help of the natural scenery, the character of the beauty of the environment and the beauty of the integration, to achieve the integration of the situation, resulting in a specific cozy atmosphere.