A century of experience
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail Global Times, September 19, 2014
 |
|
Yang Jiang [File photo] |
A diligent writer of talent who has continued to produce new works despite her age, Yang Jiang, now 103, has been breaking people's expectations of what senior citizens can accomplish since she was 70. Now Yang has surprised her readers once again: She has written a sequel to her 1988 novel Baptism, titled After Baptism.
Featuring the same characters, Yang explained the sequel was born out of her desire to give her favorite characters a happy ending.
"It would be troublesome if someone rushed out a sequel after I die. So I thought I'd better put an end to it while I'm still alive," wrote Yang in the book's preface.
Happy endings
Published by the People's Literature Publishing House, the title of the first book is an euphemism for the period of "ideological reform" Chinese intellectuals went through right after the founding of the PRC. In the book, Yang depicts the lives of a number of intellectuals who lived through this period.
 |
|
Cover of Chinese version of After Baptism [Photo/Courtesy of People's Literature Publishing House] |
In her book, Yang shows this "baptism" was actually a very ineffective form of brainwashing, as no one was willing to voluntarily take part in the movement. Meanwhile, she paints a picture of the darker side of human nature with many of the characters in the story, some are selfish and snobbish, some are arrogant and mean, and some narrow-minded and spiteful.
Depicting the lives of a great variety of intellectuals during that time, the novel doesn't follow one or two main characters beginning to end like other novels. However, among this group of characters that are scheming against each other for a tiny bit of benefit, two characters, Xu Yancheng and Yao Mi, stand out for their nobility, simplicity and willingness to be better persons.
Many readers have seen these two characters as the hero and heroine of the novel, because they tend to be more likeable than the others. In the novel, Xu and Yao are a couple who like each other but cannot be together because Xu is married. Their relationship and the love triangle between Xu and Yao and Xu's wife are seen as a big highlight of the novel.
Under Yang's pen, the two manage to restrain their love for each other and maintain a pure friendship that has won the hearts of millions of readers. However, as Yang wrote in the preface to the sequel, there have been plenty of readers that have made wild guess about the amorous goings-on that they believe must have taken place between Xu and Yao throughout the novel, something which Yang finds distasteful.
"I meant to stress the pure friendship between Yao and Xu, but some people have spoiled that idea. So I figured I should put an end to it while I'm still alive, so as to protect the purity of their friendship and give readers a happy ending," Yang wrote.
The 45,000 character new novel is set in the 1950s-60s, and depicts how Xu's wife, who has been accused of being "right-wing," develops feelings for another character Ye Dan while they are forced to do manual labor in the countryside as a punishment.
She asks for a divorce from Xu after returning to Beijing, which frees both to get married again. This gives Xu and Yao the chance to get together.
To again stress her intention for writing the book, Yang ends the novel with a statement. "Xu Yancheng and Yao Mi have married. The story is over and set. There is nothing left for those who want to write a sequel."
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)