Female soldier Xie Bingying

Author: Yan Chunde et al. / Country:
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-01-01
Features: Though a woman, there are countless men who cannot match her. Though a heroine forged by the times, how many of the ladies of the era could rival her? In her youth, she loved her country; in middle age, she loved her family and students; in her later years, she loved Zen meditation. It seems her life was truly fulfilling. Bingying was a female soldier who participated in the second National Revolution "Northern Expedition" war in 1926. After that, she wrote From Military Diary and Autobiography of a Female Soldier, gaining fame in the literary world as a "female soldier" and becoming a unique-style female writer. Before joining the army, she first rebelled against her feudal family, resolutely leaving home due to opposition to arranged marriage. In the 1930s, with the successive occurrences of the "September 18th Incident," "January 28th Incident," and "July 7th Incident," she threw herself into the anti-imperialist and anti-Japanese war. Her youth was almost spent in the turmoil of war. She served as a frontline nurse, conducted local propaganda work, was imprisoned by domestic warlords, and also by the Japanese police. In the Japanese prison, she was subjected to inhumane torture for being a traitor to her country. If it weren't for Liu Yazi's timely rescue, her life would have been in danger. Later, she wrote a book In a Japanese Prison about this experience. I calculated that from the age of twenty to forty, nearly two decades of her life were unstable; she endured much suffering, but she was a brave and strong person, never surrendering to misfortune! With all her passion, she fought for personal liberation, for the independence of her nation, and for democracy and freedom. In short, she fought for justice! Her achievements were her works—she wrote many realistic pieces reflecting the political darkness of old society in various historical periods, such as The Path, The Wind of Hunan, From Southwest to Northwest, Divorce, and others. These works were all realistic portrayals; her writing style mirrored her personality—passionate, bold, open, and straightforward, with a sense of unrestrained flow! She wrote only novels and essays, often using the first-person perspective, which gave readers a sense of intimacy. It is undeniable that her works had a certain progressive influence in the past, though their ideological depth was somewhat limited and artistic perfection was not fully achieved. However, like Bai Wei, as one of the pioneering female writers of the era, she made contributions to early Chinese literary endeavors. When Xie Bingying arrived in Shanghai, many things were to seek the writer, editor, and editor-in-chief of The Little Moon Report, Zheng Zhenduo. She poured out her grievances before the editor, who showed great sympathy for the weak woman. The Monthly Novel Report was renowned in the literary world in that era, and many famous writers of the 1930s published their major works in it, influencing an entire generation. Yet, Zheng Zhenduo allocated space in his journal, publishing a piece titled A Settling of Love, which was not a novel but something akin to one. This article reviewed her "love trajectory," narrating her interactions with Fu, their engagement, travels, conflicts, and eventual break-up. In A Settling of Love, there were striking lines that spread widely in the 1930s literary world. Even today, some elderly people can still recite those unique phrases: "Fu (whose name in Beijing and Tianjin was Fu Yeqi, and I chose one character from his name, showing that love's traces still linger) to me, one hundred acts of love, one hundred and one faults." At that time, publishing in newspapers or issuing public notices to break off marriage contracts were seen as brave acts of rebellion against feudal marriage, and such cases were common, or so it was said, always emerging as if they were trendy. However, breaking a marriage without going to court but instead publishing it in a literary form in a "novel" was likely a first by the Hunan female talent Xie Bingying. Fu, at the age of eighty-two, recalled those years without showing sadness, even speaking with a touch of irony: "I received that issue of The Monthly Novel Report in prison. I couldn't tell whether it was brought by friends or if the guards found it for me. Anyway, I shared a cell with someone who is now a retired Party secretary in Beijing. He thought I would cry, but after reading 'A Settling of Love,' I just laughed. That's 'the only store in town, no branch elsewhere'—it's Xie Bingying's 'patent'!" Autobiography of a Female Soldier is a true story. When she discussed how she wrote it, she said: "When I started writing this book, I made a firm resolution: I would be one hundred percent faithful, writing not a single lie, completely based on facts, without embellishment or exaggeration. Only absolute faithfulness would give it value and not betray the readers' passion." Among her works, Autobiography of a Female Soldier was the one that caused her the most sorrow and pain. She said: "I wanted to close my eyes and carefully recall every part of my past life, letting the tears squeezed from my pain flow out again through my eyes. I remember when writing the first volume, there were several very amusing parts. As I wrote, I laughed, as if I had gone mad. But when it came to the middle volume, there was no laughter, only pain and sorrow. While writing, I cried so much that the ink was washed away by my tears. I rewrote it three or four times without success, so I just put down the pen and waited until I had a good cry before rewriting."