eries of cultural events were held at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) to memorize the 10th anniversary of Ba Jin (Li Yaotang)’s death who is one of the Chinese greatest litterateur, translator and thinker.

The events were held by SISU Library and the Memorial Hall of Ba Jin’s Former Residence, including a picture exhibition, a multilingual translation competition  and a series of lectures and recitations. 

Starting with Ba’s three famous works Family, Spring and Autumn, the picture exhibition shows the main parts of Ba’s life, including his family, friendship and work. About 10 items from Ba’s personal belongings were also shown, including his manuscripts and letters for his wife. A large piece of calligraphy titled Who Are You painted by Huang Yongyu was also on display for memorization.

Ba had a good command of no less than six languages. When translating a book, Ba often refered to its versions of different languages. In memory of his translation career, competitors of the Multilingual Translation Competition, who consist of SISU students and teachers, were invited to translate Ba’s works into different languages, including English, French, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese and German. 

SISU professor Wang Jing, Vice Chair of the University Council said: “Ba Jin was sincere, comprehensive, permanent and young. His works were full of the beauty and passion of youth. I hope SISU students will learn from his great spirit through studying his works and form their own opinions.”

Li Yaotang (1904-2005) is considered to be one of the most important and widely read Chinese writers of the 20th century. He wrote under the pen name of Ba Jin, taking his pseudonym from Russian anarchists Bakunin and Kropotkin. Ba Jin started writing his first works in the late 1920s.