BA JIN

born Nov. 25, 1904, Chengtu, Szechwan province, China Wade-Giles romanization Pa Chin, pseudonym of Li Feigan Chinese anarchist writer whose novels and short stories achieved widespread popularity in the 1930s and '40s. The pen name Ba Chin was formed from the Chinese equivalents of the first and last syllables, respectively, of Bakunin and Kropotkin, two Russian anarchists whom Li admired. Born to a wealthy gentry family, Ba received a traditional Confucian education as well as training in modern foreign languages and literatures. While in school he developed socialist convictions and an interest in writing. Ba's first novel, Mieh-wang (Extinction), appeared with great success in 1929, when he returned to China after two years of study in France. During the next four years Ba published seven novels, most of them dealing with social concerns and attacking the traditional family system. Most famous of these was the novel Chia (The Family), the first volume of the autobiographical trilogy Chi-liu (Torrent), which was completed in 1940 with the publication of the second and third volumes, Ch'un and Ch'iu (Spring and Autumn). In these and other novelssuch as Ch'i yan (1944; Pleasure Garden) and Han-yeh (1947; Cold Nights)the influence of foreign writers, notably Ivan Turgenev and mile Zola, is apparent. Ba's work was frequently attacked by the communists for both its content and its style, even though his numerous magazine articles and political activities on behalf of the left helped to create the emotional climate that allowed the intellectuals to accept the communist revolution. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Ba was judged politically reliable and was elected to important literary and cultural organizations. Although he formally renounced his anarchist ideas in the late 1950s, he never fully adapted himself to the new society. During the Cultural Revolution (196676), he was labeled a counterrevolutionary and sharply criticized. Ba did not make a public appearance again until 1977. In 1978 he was elected a deputy to the National People's Congress, and in 1981 he was elected the chairman of the Chinese Writer's Association.