Icy Heart Essays (Student Edition) -- A Journey of Reading Famous Masterpieces

Author: Bing Xin, written by Bing Xin, edited by Gao Changchun
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-06-01
Features: A person's growth is inseparable from the family and social environment, and Bing Xin is no exception. Bing Xin's great-grandfather was a farmer from Fujian who, due to natural disasters, moved to the city and became a tailor. After a year of hard work, when the year-end accounts came due, he was cheated because he could not read or write. In the biting cold, the couple swore to heaven: "If we have a son, we will do everything we can to educate him." The purpose of Bing Xin's great-grandfather in educating his son was simply to keep accounts and collect debts, but this boy with the given name "Dade" eventually became a great scholar in Fuzhou and became close friends with the famous modern Chinese litterateur and translator Lin Qinnan. When Bing Xin was 11 years old, her grandfather's study became her paradise. Filled with shelves of books, there were ancient notes and novels, as well as foreign literary masterpieces translated by Lin Qinnan. These works led 11-year-old Bing Xin into the world of literature and influenced her throughout her life.
Bing Xin's father was a naval officer. During the First Sino-Japanese War, the naval ship on which her father served was sunk by the Japanese. He swam to Liu Island and barely survived. The First Sino-Japanese War became a great humiliation in modern Chinese history. During Bing Xin's childhood, the patriotic atmosphere of "driving out the Tartars and restoring China" was quite strong in her family. At that time, Bing Xin lived with her father in the naval camp in Yantai, Shandong, and her only playmate was the sea. Bing Xin regarded the vast and silent sea as a stage, where she was both the actor and the director. Dressed in men's clothes, she followed her father to shoot guns, ride horses, and row boats, appearing as a little soldier on the naval ship. This childhood experience shaped Bing Xin's character for life—becoming a youth with the heart of the sea, as broad as the ocean. When facing hardships, the thought of the sea would open her heart and bring her peace.
Bing Xin was frail and often ill in her childhood, but she survived thanks to her mother's careful care. Her mother was an extremely gentle and quiet woman. When Bing Xin was four or five years old, her mother began teaching her to read and write. Her mother was also an extremely progressive person. All of Bing Xin's uncles joined the Tongmenghui, passing messages and exchanging letters, which were all handled by Bing Xin's mother. After Bing Xin became a writer, she would always present her finished works to her mother first. Her mother was her most loyal and enthusiastic critic. Bing Xin was grateful to her mother, and after her mother's death, she wrote many articles in memory of her. In "Reminiscences (I)," she wrote: "Mother, you are the lotus leaf, and I am the lotus flower. When the rain of the heart comes, who is the shade I can rely on under the open sky?"
In her childhood, Bing Xin grew up in the care of her family. She recalled: "My childhood life was happy, bright, and healthy. I received all the love I needed and loved all those who deserved it. My mother, father, grandfather, uncles, teachers, and everyone around me helped my emotions grow into normalcy and health."
Early in the 20th century, China was suffering under the iron hooves of imperialist powers. Bing Xin was born in a turbulent time when the Eight-Nation Alliance entered Beijing. Throughout her upbringing, she witnessed the atrocities of imperialist powers in China and hated their invasion of the country.
Initially, Bing Xin studied medicine, and her father strongly supported her choice. He once said to her, "The ancients said, 'If you cannot be a good prime minister, be a good doctor.' China, the sick man of East Asia, needs good doctors. You should study medicine!" After studying science for only half a year at Peking Union Medical College, the May Fourth Movement broke out in 1919. At the age of 19, Bing Xin joined the Beijing Women's Academic League as a student representative in the publicity department, writing many articles for publicity and mobilization. Influenced by the May Fourth Movement, she transferred from science to the humanities after two years of study. The two years after the May Fourth Movement were a period of intense emotional turmoil for the young Bing Xin, a time of extraordinary intellectual activity. At that time, new types of newspapers and magazines sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain. Bing Xin greedily read these books and newspapers outside of class, often hiding them under her textbooks to read them secretly. Whenever she encountered sentences she particularly liked, she would hastily jot them down in the margins of her notebooks. Over time, she began to write down all her thoughts and memories in the same hasty, crooked style.
Bing Xin often said, "The thunder of the May Fourth Movement shook me onto the path of writing." In addition to the influence of the social reality at the time, reading also had a profound impact on her growth. When Bing Xin was four years old, her mother began teaching her to read and write. At five, her uncle told her the story of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" every night. The tragic fate of the slaves made Bing Xin toss and turn in bed, unable to fall asleep, her tears soaking through handkerchiefs. Since her uncle did not have time to read to her often, impatient Bing Xin began reading classical novels like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," "Water Margin," and "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" at the age of seven. When she returned to her hometown in Fuzhou at the age of 11, the classical literary masterpieces and translated foreign novels in her grandfather's study captivated her. She would spend every free moment reading in her grandfather's study, and reading became a lifelong obsession for her.
Among the writers Bing Xin admired, the famous Indian philosopher Rabindranath Tagore cannot be mentioned enough. When Bing Xin was 19, on a desolate autumn night with a bright moon, she read Tagore's works for the first time and was deeply moved. Especially Tagore's "Gitanjali," which she could not put down. Bing Xin poured her concern for society and life into her writing, producing thought-provoking and philosophical short poems like "Starry Sky" and "Spring Water," as well as a large number of influential essays in the "Bing Xin style." The famous writer Yu Dafu once praised Bing Xin's essays: "The elegance of Bing Xin's essays, the classicality of her language, and the purity of her thoughts are unmatched in modern Chinese literature. I believe that reading Bing Xin's works can help one understand the hearts of all the talented women in Chinese history. Her writing is subtle, original, sorrowful yet not hurtful, and restrained yet expressive. Her life and her writing are the epitome of her essence." This shows the immense impact Bing Xin's essays had on readers at the time.
Bing Xin's writing began in 1919, when she entered the literary scene with "problem novels," producing many works that explored life's questions. "Leaving the Country," included in this book, is a representative of "problem novels." In 1921, after joining the Literary Research Society, the May Fourth Movement had declined from its peak, and nihilism and melancholy were consuming the consciences of patriotic youth. Bing Xin hoped to awaken the "new vitality" of the youth, so she published the novel "The Superhuman," which was a fine work on the theme of "life" within the Literary Research Society. Some considered "The Superhuman" the inevitable extension of Bing Xin's "problem novels" under new social conditions. This work played a heartening role at the time. I believe that "The Superhuman" is a clever fusion of Bing Xin's "problem novels" and "philosophy of love," though it is somewhat detached and unrealistic. She hoped to heal society and the youth with the magical remedies of "maternal love" and "childhood," leading them toward happiness and hope.
Bing Xin's works are filled with a strong "philosophy of love." This philosophy of love came not only from her gratitude to her mother but also from the influence of Christianity during her studies at Baimen Middle School. Baimen Middle School was a church-run school, though Bing Xin's family did not practice religion. The universal love of Christianity, the philosophical thoughts of Tagore, and her childhood reflections on the sea formed the core of Bing Xin's life philosophy. The themes of her "philosophy of love" include three aspects: praising maternal love, celebrating innocence, and admiring nature. "Southbound" is an elegy for her mother, filled with sincere filial love for her mother. Even today, more than 60 years later, reading it still evokes Bing Xin's genuine praise for maternal love. This sentiment has moved generations of readers.
Celebrating innocence is another main theme of Bing Xin's "philosophy of love." After the May Fourth Movement, China was like a newborn baby, full of vitality. Many writers depicted the innocent world of childhood in their works. Bing Xin was a representative of this trend. She believed that the hearts of children contained the initial state of human thought, unscathed by the world, revealing the natural and sincere essence of humanity, embodying the original goodness and beauty of human nature. This was the life attitude Bing Xin pursued.
Bing Xin lived to the age of 99, maintaining a childlike heart throughout almost a century. In "Mingzi and Mizi," the innocent, simple, and adorable childlike heart is so vivid that it is hard to believe it was written by an 84-year-old. "To Young Readers" and "To Young Readers Again" are not only dialogues between Bing Xin and her young readers but also dialogues between Bing Xin and her own childhood. I believe "Little Orange Lamp" left a deeper impression on readers. This work has been included in high school textbooks for many years. The little girl in the story is calm, brave, and optimistic, truly reflecting Bing Xin's childlike heart.
Praising nature was always another important theme in Bing Xin's works. In 1904, when Bing Xin was four, her father Xie Baozhang became the president of the naval academy, and the family moved from Fujian to Yantai. Until she was 11, Bing Xin lived with her father in the naval camp, leaving many traces of her play on the coast of Yantai. Bing Xin loved the sea and often walked alone to the mountain seaside. She wrote in her works: "Walking alone on the sandy shore, as the tide comes, it seems as if heaven and earth are floating, and as the tide recedes, it seems as if the coast and I are being swept away!" Bing Xin spent her carefree childhood in nature. Therefore, she loved nature and felt as if she had returned home whenever she went into the wilderness. The sea, the stars, and the clouds became the confidants of Bing Xin in her writing. Even while studying in the United States, the whisper of Bing Xin and nature could be heard by the shores of Lake Waijing.
In Bing Xin's works, nature is a spirit, the spirit of children, full of vitality, and the best friend of children. In "Notes from the Mountains," Bing Xin vividly described the process of a bird breaking out of its shell. The small, honey-colored butterflies, snails with round shells, buzzing bees, and frogs that sing at night in the flowers—all of them were extremely gentle and childlike. The female writer Bing Xin, with a heart as vast as the sea, will forever shine on the Chinese literary stage with dazzling light.
A drop of clear water can reflect the dazzling brilliance of the sun; a good book can nourish countless beautiful souls. This series of books collects the classic works of more than 20 contemporary and modern literary masters, covering topics such as life, family, friendship, gratitude, aesthetics, motivation, growth, and success, along with insightful critiques by renowned scholars. Savor these works to ignite the pure light of wisdom in your heart; read them slowly to embark on a fragrant journey through life.