Bai Xianyong

Bai Xianyong

Bai Xianyong, born on July 11, 1937, is a Chinese American writer. He was born in Guilin, Guangxi in 1937. The son of Bai Chongxi, a senior general of the Chinese Kuomintang, graduated from Taiwan University and the University of Iowa. At present, he is Professor of Bowen and honorary director of "Kunqu research and promotion program" of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

When Bai Xianyong was 7 years old, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and could not go to school. After graduating from Jianguo middle school in 1956 and obtaining a master's degree from the University of Iowa in 1965, Bai Xianyong went to the University of California Santa Barbara to teach Chinese language and literature and settled there. He retired in 1994. His works include the collection of short stories "Taipei People", "lonely seventeen years old", "new Yorker", the novel "evil son", the collection of essays "suddenly looking back", "the sixth finger", "trees like this", and the stage play "a dream in the garden". Among them, "Taipei People" was selected as one of the top 100 Chinese novels in the 20th century (seventh, the highest ranking of still living writers). In 2018, he won the lifelong achievement award of Shanghai Magnolia drama performance art and the "Short Story Award" of the fifth Yu Dafu Novel Award.

Character experience

Bai Xianyong was born in Guilin, Guangxi, China, on July 11, 1937. His father Bai Chongxi was a general of the Guangxi Department of the Chinese Kuomintang, and his mother Ma Peizhang. Bai Xianyong ranked eighth, with nine brothers and sisters (only five are still alive). Bai Yunqin, a radio celebrity, was his cousin. Most of his family still lives in Taiwan. When Bai Xianyong was 7 years old, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and could not go to school, so he spent most of his childhood alone.

During the Anti Japanese War, he went to Chongqing, Shanghai and Nanjing with his family. Later, he moved to Hong Kong in 1948 and studied in Lasha Academy. He moved to Taiwan in 1952.

After graduating from Jianguo middle school in 1956, because he dreamed of participating in the construction of the Three Gorges Dam project, he was admitted as the first volunteer to the Department of water conservancy engineering of Taiwan Provincial Chenggong University (today's "national" Chenggong University). The next year, he found that he was not interested, so he transferred to the Department of foreign literature of National Taiwan University to study English literature.

In 1958, he published his first short story "Granny king" in literary magazine. Two years later, he and his classmates Ouyangzi, Chen Ruoxi and Wang Wenxing co founded the magazine of modern literature, and published a number of novels, such as yuemeng, sister-in-law Yuqing and graduation.

Graduated from university in 1961.

In 1962, Bai Xianyong's mother Ma Peizhang died. According to his autobiographical article suddenly looking back, "after my mother was buried, I went to the grave for 40 days according to the Muslim ceremony. On the 41st day, I went abroad to fly to the United States." After his mother died, he flew to Iowa writer's workshop at the University of Iowa to study literary theory and creative research. At that time, his father Bai Chongxi also came to see him off, which was the last time Bai and his father met.

In 1963, he went to the United States to study and create in the writers' Studio of the University of Iowa.

In 1965, after obtaining a master's degree from the University of Iowa, Bai Xianyong went to the University of California at Santa Barbara to teach Chinese language and literature, and has since settled there. He retired in 1994.

On November 1, 1999, he published the article "raising a tiger to bring about trouble - regret and hatred of his father (the cause and effect of the first" Siping Street battle "between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in the spring and summer of 1946 and its great influence" (Contemporary, No. 147, Taipei) to set up a biography for his father Bai Chongxi.

Bai Xianyong has published a collection of short stories, such as lonely seventeen, Taibei people, new Yorker, prose collection, suddenly looking back, and novel, evil son. Bai Xianyong absorbed the writing skills of modern western literature, integrated into the traditional Chinese way of expression, described the story and life of the characters in the new and old era, rich in the sense of historical rise and fall and human vicissitudes.

In 2004, Guangxi Normal University Press published a collection of his works "youth · thoughts - Bai Xianyong's selected works" and his new work "colorful Peony Pavilion". Bai Xianyong loved Kunqu Opera, such as peony pavilion, and spared no effort to preserve and inherit it.

In 2005, Bai Xianyong was employed as an adjunct professor of Nanjing University.

In 2008, Bai Xianyong was appointed honorary Dean of the school of Arts, Zhuhai branch of Beijing Normal University.

In June 2009, Mr. Bai was awarded the honorary doctorate of literature from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

In 2011, Bai Xianyong was appointed professor of Humanities at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

In 2015, Bai Xianyong promoted the establishment of the "Nanjing University Bai Xianyong culture fund" and was employed as a consultant of the Taiwan Hong Kong and overseas Chinese literature research center of Nanjing University.

In March 2017, Professor Bai Xianyong presided over a public lecture at shanheng College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong on the topic of "Bai Xianyong guiding and appreciating the dream of Red Mansions".

In August 2017, the Chinese University of Hong Kong appointed Professor Bai Xianyong as the lecture professor of Bowen.

In May 2018, she won the lifelong achievement award of Shanghai Magnolia drama performance art awarded by the 28th Shanghai Magnolia Drama Performance Art Award.

In October 2018, Bai Xianyong's "silent night" won the "Short Story Award" of the fifth Yu Dafu Novel Award.

Creative experience

Connecting China and the West

Bai Xianyong loved Chinese folk literature and classical literature since he was a child, and read a lot of Chinese folk stories and classical works. For example, Xue Rengui's march to the East, fan Lihua's march to the west, Shuo Tang, Shushan swordsman and tixiao marriage; Ba Jin's home, spring and autumn; Three Kingdoms, water margin and journey to the west, especially a dream of Red Mansions, are all his favorite works. In the university age, influenced by the trend of modern western literature, Bai Xianyong began to read and introduce the works of Western modernist writers, and began to imitate western literature in his creation. However, after graduating from the Iowa creative class, the author turned his attention to the study of Chinese history, culture and literature. Bai Xianyong's love of Chinese folk stories and Chinese classical literature makes him have a relatively profound accomplishment of Chinese traditional literature. This is why Bai Xianyong has lived in Taiwan and the United States for a long time, bathed in the European wind and rain, while most of his works still maintain a relatively distinctive national style. Bai Xianyong loved the beautiful mountains and rivers of the motherland since he was a child, and had deep feelings for the motherland and the nation.

Bashu complex

The author lived in Chongqing when he was young. When he recalled the Bashan and SHUSHUI he saw when he was young, he is still very fascinated. When he graduated from high school, because he loved the beautiful mountains and rivers of the motherland, Bai Xianyong gave up the favorable conditions to walk to NTU and joined the Taiwan Institute of water conservancy. Later, because he found that he was not interested in water conservancy, he transferred to the Department of foreign languages at NTU. He was deeply impressed by his motherland. I miss it very much. The so-called "home" he missed day and night was nothing but his own "motherland" and his own "nation". It is this deep feeling for the nation and the motherland that makes this wanderer far away from the motherland exude indifference "nostalgia" in his works.

Sympathy for workers

Although Bai Xianyong grew up in an official family and had better living conditions than ordinary people, he sympathized with the lower class workers he came into contact with. It is no accident that the author compassionately describes the images of the lower class characters such as Juan Juan, Zhu Feng and Wang Xiong and their tragic fates in his lonely love for flowers, the last night of Jin Daban and the blood red Rhododendron. He has a lot of feelings about his family life experience. According to the author himself, on the eve of going abroad in 1963, his mother died, and when he came back from his studies, "his father had already returned home.". It was a big shock to his heart. The author once wrote: "other people studying abroad may be full of excitement, but I don't. I just feel flustered and dazed. In the first year in the United States, my mood was desolate. "For the first time since I arrived in the United States, I deeply felt the loss of my country and family." These thoughts and emotions are quite negative. Wu hanhun and Li Tong in the death of Chicago and exile to immortals written by the author later committed suicide one by one, which probably has something to do with the author's sad mood in this period. Bai Xianyong began to engage in creative activities in the late 1950s. From the publication of the first short story "Granny Kim" in 1958 to the publication of "nocturne" in Hong Kong's "eight directions" literary Series in August 1979, more than 30 short stories have been published. In 1960, he co founded modern literature magazine in Taiwan with Ouyangzi and Wang Wenxing. Most of his works were first published in this magazine, and then compiled into several collections of short stories, such as lonely seventeen, Taibei people, new Yorker and exile to immortals. His first novel, Nie Zi, has been serialized in modern literature since 1977 and has been published by Taiwan vision publishing house. The contents of these works can be roughly divided into four categories: the first is the early works, which mainly describe the life of the author in his youth, or simulate the works of Western literature, such as most of the works in lonely seventeen; the second is the works describing the life of the upper class in Taiwan, such as the people of Taipei; the third is the works describing the life of intellectuals in the United States, such as the new Yorker; and the fourth is the works describing the life of intellectuals in Taiwan Works that depict lower class characters in Taiwan, such as the novel "evil son".

Anecdotes of characters

On homosexuality

Bai Xianyong once publicly stated that he was gay in Hong Kong, but rarely mentioned his sexual orientation in public in Taiwan. Bai Xianyong once said that he believed his father knew about his homosexuality, but did not really talk to him

Chinese PinYin : Bai Xian Yong