Eye of the Storm
- Source: Global Times
- [21:26 March 23 2011]
- Comments
Writer and translator Yang Jiang. Photo: IC
By Zhang Lei
It might seem easy to make the biography of an acclaimed centenarian and living Chinese writer a fascinating read but for writer and translator Yang Jiang, who's borne witness to some of her country's most significant shifts and events, her new biography is more about Yang's own sense of calm, a rare quality in he turbulent times she has undergone.
A plain but rich narrative of Yang's life story, compiled from Yang's own essays and memoirs, the book tracks her life from childhood and early studies to the political storms and social changes of the Mao era she endured with husband Qian Zhongshu, renowned author of classic satire Fortress Besieged.
Yang's biographer is LuoYinsheng, a scholar from Shanghai and prolific writer best known for biographies of scholars such as economist Gu Zhun, former Foreign Minister Qiao Guanhua and his wife Zhang Hanzhi. He first began to compiled Yang's bio in 2004.
Old school intellect
Behind her glories, A Century of Elegance: A Biography of Yang Jiang highlights the charm of her personality against tumultuous times including almost every touching detail in her life.
At 100, Yang has outlived both her family members: her only daughter died of cancer in 1997 and her husband passed the following year aged 88.
Bestowed with the academic spirit and personal charisma of the old school Chinese intellectual, through all the ups and downs she has remained gentle and kind, sorrowful at times but without "excessive" grief.
"The three of us were separated so easily we lost each other. Being all alone, I figured our home' is only a guesthouse during a trip. I don't know where my home' is; I'm still looking for my way home," she writes.
Living by herself for 12 years, Yang has never stopped writing and translating on the same old desk each day. She has organized 40 volumes of her husband's manuscripts with a determination that seems amazing for her age. Such uxorious devotion typifies Yang's life; she still keeps her unadorned home as it was when her husband was alive. Retaining a low profile, she has turned down visitors, skipped celebrations, and refused prizes.
When she was turning 99 last year a particular occasion to be celebrated, according to her hometown tradition Yang refused to make a fuss and her "hundredth birthday" was no exception, passing without grand ceremony or public celebration.
