Bai Fan Yi Zhi

Author: (Korea) Kim Gu
Translator: Xuan Dezhu, Zhang Minghui
Country: Korea, South
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: This is an autobiography. Author Kim Gu describes, through his personal experiences, the genuine understanding and mutual support between the Korean and Chinese people during the struggle against Japanese colonial rule and the fight for national independence. Among these, the period when Kim Gu fled to Jiaxing after the Shanghai Hongkou Park bombing on April 29 is particularly unforgettable for this indomitable figure—May 1932 to February 1936. Though not long, this time was significant for Kim Gu and the Korean independence movement, as it was a period of great peril for Kim Gu and a low point for the movement. During this time, Kim Gu met Chiang Kai-shek in May 1933, securing official support from the Nationalist government for Kim Gu.
This is the autobiography of Kim Gu (1876–1949), the founding hero of the Republic of Korea. "Baifan" was Kim Gu's courtesy name, and "Baifan Yizhi" originally meant "the autobiography of an ordinary man," but Kim Gu's life was anything but ordinary: he was imprisoned three times in Korea and went into exile in China for 26 years; he planned the assassination attempt on the Japanese Emperor and the Shanghai Hongkou Park bombing; the Japanese forces once offered a reward of 600,000 yuan for his capture. "Baifan Yizhi" is a record of the bloody history of the founding of the Republic of Korea, a witness to Kim Gu's resistance against Japanese aggression and fight for national independence. This book has been translated into multiple languages and published in 100 editions worldwide, a moving and unforgettable work rich in emotion and dramatic plot.
When I was five years old, my parents moved me to Samjeong-ri, Kangnyeong County. The place was backed by mountains and faced the sea. Because my great-uncle, paternal first cousins, and other elders had moved there, our family followed suit and settled there. We stayed there for about two years, but due to tigers often harming people and livestock, and because our home was at a point where tigers roamed, we dared not step outside at night. During the day, my parents worked in the fields or fished at the sea, while I would go to the village every day to play with the children of a neighbor, Lee Seung-in. This was my daily routine. In summer, village children only wore lower garments and went bare-chested. One day, while playing with the children at their guest room, some of them, both my age and a couple of years older, conspired to beat me, a Haeju boy. Without reason, I was beaten badly, and in anger, I ran home, grabbed a kitchen knife, and rushed to Lee Seung-in's house with the intention of killing them all. I thought entering through the front door would be discovered, so I planned to break through the fence and storm in from the back. However, I was spotted by an 18-year-old girl in the house, who screamed loudly, foiling my plan. Instead, I was caught and beaten by them, and the knife was taken away. Fearing my parents' anger for losing the knife, I was terrified. When my mother searched for it, I pretended not to know anything.
Another time, while sitting alone at home, a candy seller passed by my door, shouting, "Trade copper bowls and spoons for malt candy!" Although I wanted the candy, I had heard from adults that candy sellers would cut off children's private parts, so I first locked the door tightly and called the seller over. I used my father's new spoon and broke it in half with my heel, leaving one half and sticking the other half out the window, thinking only a broken spoon could trade for candy. The seller took the half spoon I stuck out and rolled the candy into a fist-sized ball, then pushed it through the hole. I had half a spoon beside me and was enjoying the candy when my father returned home. I told him the truth. My father only warned me not to do such things again. Although he was very angry, he did not hit me.
There was another time, also during that period, when I saw my father put twenty taels of copper coins under the quilt at the head of the bed. When my father was out and it was just me at home, feeling bored, I decided to go to the village shop to buy rice cakes and took out all the coins, tying them around my waist before leaving. On the way, I met my third great-uncle. He blocked my path and asked, "Where are you taking all that money, little thing?" I respectfully replied, "To buy rice cakes." He said, "If your father sees this, he will beat you badly. Go home quickly!" My third great-uncle took the money tied around my waist and gave it back to my father. Unable to buy the rice cakes I wanted, I was very upset. When I returned home, my father arrived right after me. Without a word, he tightly bound me with a clothesline and hung me from the ceiling, then whipped me with a branch until I nearly died. My mother had not returned from the fields, and there was no one to stop him, so I was hung there and beaten.
Just then, a called Changlian Grandpa entered. He knew medicine and was very fond of me. I was truly lucky. When he heard my screams, he ran inside without hesitation. He immediately took me down from the ceiling, before my father could list my crimes, snatched the branch he was using to beat me, and beat my father instead. He scolded, "How can you hit a child like this!" Although Changlian Uncle was similar in age to my father, his authority as an uncle made my father dare not resist. Seeing my father being beaten, I was overjoyed and deeply grateful to Changlian Uncle. He carried me to the fields and bought as many watermelons and muskmelons as possible for me to eat. Then he took me to his house.
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