Hell: A Biography of Yin Haiguang

Author: Wang Zhongjiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-10-01
Features: This book makes minimal revisions to "A Stream Forbidden by Ten Thousand Mountains—A Biography of Yin Haiguang," supplemented with some historical materials, corrected some errors, and changed the title to "Purgatory—A Biography of Yin Haiguang." Yin Haiguang was an unfortunate person who struggled in an unlucky era and was persecuted. He was a modern Chinese intellectual devoted to knowledge, reason, morality, and freedom. In this era when the "knowledge economy" is no longer a fairy tale, those who have undergone the "baptism of knowledge" and engage in "knowledge-based" work—industrial technicians, political and economic experts, organizers of new culture, practitioners of new legal systems—will no longer be a minority among society's members. Gramsci once described this scenario as "everyone is a intellectual." The question is, if "everyone is a intellectual," then the meaning of the term "intellectual" becomes meaningless. Said is dissatisfied with this and insists that intellectuals are always "individuals with a specific public role" in society, as described by Bandha as "brilliant and morally upright philosopher-kings" and "the conscience of humanity," and cannot be reduced to faceless professionals who only do their own job. He says that true intellectuals always criticize corruption and resist oppressive authority with metaphysical passion and selfless principles, fearlessly pursuing justice and truth. (Said, Intellectuals, Sanlian, 2002) Recently, Professor Wang Zhongjiang published "Purgatory—A Biography of Yin Haiguang," which truly portrays for us a "intellectual" in Said's sense: Yin Haiguang, born in Huanggang, Hubei, in the year of the May Fourth Movement to a rural missionary family, studied under Jin Yueling. During the later stages of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he joined the Youth Army as a graduate student. After his discharge, he went to Chongqing, where he began to gain recognition and was summoned by the "highest leader" he had long admired. Soon after the repatriation to Nanjing, he joined the Central Daily News as a chief editor. Just before the decisive battle between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, he retreated to Taiwan. Although he remained politically loyal to the Kuomintang government, he grew increasingly dissatisfied with its corrupt atmosphere and thus transferred to teaching at National Taiwan University, while also engaging in "scholarly politics" in the private publication Free China, founded by Hu Shih and Lei Zheng. Under the banner of the May Fourth Movement, he vigorously promoted freedom, democracy, science, and reason, opposing various forms of authoritarianism, obscurantism, and dogmatism, as well as both old and new traditionalism. He took the lead in ideological battles against the authoritarian Kuomintang authorities, becoming a leading figure of liberalism. In 1960, Free China was forced to cease publication, and this "son of May Fourth" began to face a series of organized persecutions. Yet he remained unyielding and righteous, defiant in the face of the tyranny of secret police, declaring, "I, Yin Haiguang, am here!" After enduring countless hardships and calamities, he passed away at the age of fifty, weakened by poverty and illness. Purgatory tells the story of such an intellectual. The author originally intended to title the book with the first line of Yang Wanli's poem "Guiyuan Pu," "Ten thousand mountains refuse one stream to flow," but changed it to "Purgatory," with the meaning rooted in the "characteristics of an intellectual." Lin Yusheng said that the eternal significance of Yin Haiguang's life struggle lay in his conscience, great courage, and the pursuit of struggle itself. Wang Zhongjiang largely affirms Yin Haiguang along these lines, but his focus is clearly different: while Lin highlights Yin Haiguang's lofty greatness in the sense of "a person," Wang admires his steadfastness in the sense of "an intellectual." "Loftiness" is indeed a rare realm, but it is impossible to demand it of ordinary people at any time; "steadfastness," however, should be the duty of intellectuals. If intellectuals fail to uphold their duty, it is a tragic loss and betrayal. With his unique eccentric character, Yin Haiguang proved the success of his role as a transcendent intellectual and also demonstrated that even in extremely harsh living conditions, as long as one is willing, intellectuals can still maintain their transcendence. Perhaps the contemporary significance of Purgatory in using Yin Haiguang as an annotation for "intellectuals" lies here.