One hundred years, many people, many things

"One encounters countless people and events in one's life. At my age, I've experienced the warlords' civil war, the Anti-Japanese War, the Liberation War, and everything that happened after the founding of New China. Although I'm an ordinary person, I still have many people to remember and many things I want to talk about."
This book is the only oral autobiography of Yang Yi, a contemporary of the May Fourth Movement, a progressive student at Southwest Associated University, a renowned translator, and a centenarian. From 1919 to the present day, Yang Yi's century-long life mirrors a century of profound change and vicissitudes in China. The trials of time and life crystallize into a song of innocence and romance for a generation of intellectual women.
Looking back over the past century, Yang Yi values ​​her "days," and the family, friendship, love, and worldly affairs they carried, more than legends and achievements. She could not quite grasp the grandeur of her ancestors in her childhood home, the vicissitudes of the Beiyang political and business world, but she lingered on the plight of ordinary people; the friendships of classmates, the aspirations of a young girl, poetry and drama, the carefree ten years of "Zhongxi" (Chinese and Western) riding the wings of song; at a time of national peril, she sang "On the Songhua River" during the westward migration from Tianjin, Shanghai, Hong Kong to Kunming, keeping the flame of civilization burning brightly; from Southwest Associated University to National Central University, her memories are filled with youthful figures—her first meeting with "literary idol" Ba Jin, Wen Yiduo, his head covered in dust after the bombing, Wu Mi tapping his cane on the cobblestones, Shen Congwen, her mentor who "praised us as brave girls," moonlit conversations by the Dian River, and reunions and farewells along the Jialing River...
Scholar Yu Bin has spent ten years listening to resist forgetting, using details to reveal the truth of history. Family stories, the jade years, the path to education, and the mountains and rivers that have passed—a century of people and events unfolds slowly in this narrative. "Intentionally or unintentionally, I served as a go-between between Mr. Yang and the readers. This should be an oral history accessible to a general audience."
【Editor's Recommendation】
1. The only oral autobiography of Yang Yi, a centenarian and contemporary of the May Fourth Movement, a progressive student at Southwest Associated University, the renowned translator who first translated the name "Wuthering Heights," and a centenarian.
From "Dream of the Red Chamber" and "The Scholars" to "The Red and the Black" and "Wuthering Heights", Mr. Yang Yi, his brother Yang Xianyi and his lover Zhao Ruihong jointly promoted the dialogue between Chinese and the world, allowing literary classics to take root and blossom like seeds in the soil of different civilizations, and achieving one peak after another in the Chinese literary translation industry.
2. A century of family and national history: The times are not the background of her life, her life is the times itself.
Warlords' civil war, the Anti-Japanese War, the War of Liberation, the founding of New China... From 1919 to the present, China has experienced tremendous changes in the past century, with families and countries, individuals and society experiencing ups and downs. She has provided a special testimony to history and conveyed the "universal echo of life."
3. The romantic life of a generation of intellectual women: time flies by, but beauty never tires.
"I was born during the May Fourth Movement and grew up during the most difficult period for our country. But even under such difficult conditions, the young generation's vigor, enthusiasm and sense of responsibility were not lost at all." Patriotism, progress, and the pursuit of truth and justice are integrated into Mr. Yang Yi's life choices like blood. His bright personality allows the world to see how a life imbued with literary life, literary career, and literary pursuits is full and smooth, elegant and tenacious, optimistic and calm.
4. An optimistic and open-minded view of people and the world: Life is worth living, and being alive is a victory.
Because of her longevity, she witnessed the fate of nearly everyone: the ups and downs of life, birth, old age, sickness, and death—all became complete stories. Yet, beneath her calm narrative, we can still sense the weight of "fate." A word she often uttered was "fun." This "fun" influenced her memory and the selection of memories, perhaps reflecting a perspective on people and the world.
5. An oral history for the general public: Scholar Yu Bin spent ten years listening to resist forgetting, using details to reveal the warmth and truth of history. Also included is a 10,000-word "Random Notes on the Completion of the Book."
Fragments of family memories, unforgettable memories of old friends, the secrets of a young woman, the torrent of time personally experienced... In a small living room of just ten square meters, a conversation, fought against forgetting through listening, lasted for over a decade and finally became a book. "What I want to achieve is, first, truth, second, truth, and third, truth. And the path to this truth is, first, detail, second, detail, and third, detail." History, with its warmth, is the confluence and symphony of countless individual destinies. Witnessing individual destinies is also "witnessing history."
6. Contains 150 precious historical photos, printed in full color; the book has a seamed bare spine, showing the beauty of time; and the exquisite pull-out pages freeze 10 decades.
Born into a distinguished family, Mr. Yang has a vast collection of photographs dating back to the early 20th century. This book includes over 150 precious historical photos, printed in full color and supplemented by detailed captions that extend and complement the narrative. Designed by Zhou Weiwei, winner of the "China's Most Beautiful Book" award, the book's vibrant green color scheme symbolizes the evergreen nature of life. The text is printed on pure wood pulp paper, ideal for both storage and reading; the images are printed on classic art paper, showcasing their authenticity. The elegant binding, with its seamed, exposed spine, showcases the beauty of time. The book also includes exquisite pullouts, each depicting a decade, capturing a century of history.
【Comments & Voices】
Bi Feiyu | Zhang Lixian | Lu Yu | Xu Bei highly recommend Mr. Yang Yi, a contemporary of the May Fourth Movement, a progressive student who made the leap from Southwest Associated University to a broader life. He was a key translator who coined the name "Wuthering Heights," making it a classic. He was a diligent writer of poetry, prose, and children's literature. When the country was in decline, Mr. Yang Yi refused to remain content within the comfort of his family. With the passion of youth, he plunged into the turbulent times, sharing the fate of his motherland. Now that his family and country are prosperous, Mr. Yang Yi, in his seventies, has mastered the translations of works such as "Songs of Innocence and Experience" and "I Come Naked: A Biography of Rodin," remaining full of vigor and energy.
Tie Ning, Chairperson of the China Writers Association and President of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and Zhang Hongsen, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Chairman of the China Writers Association, each time they visited Ms. Yang Yi, they could sense her tranquility and, at the same time, her impact. She could quietly inspire and encourage others. She was critical, yet also commanded respect. Countless times in her home, I experienced the happiness that came from Yang Yi. I believe I am far from the only one to experience this happiness.
——Bi Feiyu, Vice Chairman of the China Writers Association and Chairman of the Jiangsu Writers Association This article is an oral record. The subject is the translator Yang Yi, who is already a hundred years old. The value of the article does not lie in external things such as age and identity, but in its spiritual core: this is a good "demystifying" article, which breaks our commonplace worship and praise of the so-called "last aristocracy" and "gentlemen's family".
--Ms. Yang Yi, editor-in-chief of "Duku," is no ordinary centenarian. Her family, teachers, and friends include many luminaries in modern Chinese history. Her classmates at Southwest Associated University and Central University—those young lives of diverse faiths, family backgrounds, and temperaments—each had a poignant fate. This, in turn, makes Ms. Yang Yi's oral autobiography a history of her family and nation over the past century. The times were not the backdrop to her life; her life was the times itself.
——Xu Bei, director of "Southwest Associated University" and "Post-90s"

2023-01-01

译林出版社

429

9787544792745