A small old man named Ba Jin

Author: Liu Ping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-11-01
Features: Excerpt: What is the greatest love in the world? It is maternal love, the eternal sacred love of humanity! The famous 19th-century French novelist Guy de Maupassant once said these words: "The most beautiful scene in the world appears when we remember our mothers." These heartfelt words contain the sincere feelings of countless people. When Ba Jin opened his door of memories, what first appeared before him was also the same. He said from the bottom of his heart: "My earliest memories are inseparable from my mother. I cannot forget my mother's gentle voice especially." Ba Jin's original name was Li Yaotang. He was born on November 25, 1904, in a feudal family in Chengdu, Sichuan. When he was born with a pure heart into this world, the first sound he heard was his mother's gentle breathing and her half-sung, tender melodies. Those songs were like a babbling brook, nurturing a young heart. Ba Jin said, "This heart was given to me by my mother. She also gave me boiling blood and sympathetic tears." Among the people Ba Jin admired, his mother was at the very top. On his long and winding journey through life, whenever he paused to look back at the past, his mother's "gentle round face" and her "flawlessly smooth hair" (which had been polished by wood shavings), her loving gaze, and her often smiling mouth, would appear vividly before Ba Jin's eyes. It was as if his mother was standing right there, watching him with loving silence. Ba Jin's childhood was spent in an atmosphere of love. In his heart, his mother was also extremely loving and perfect. She was like a warm little boat, gently supporting a tiny heart as it roamed the ocean of love. Ba Jin sighed, "In my childhood, she was the center of my world." His mother's surname was Chen, and her given name was Shufen. This was a typical Chinese woman's name. His mother spent only a short time with the children—only a dozen or so years—but in Ba Jin's heart, she left an unforgettable impression. His mother deeply loved her children. She had once told them an interesting story, which was a magical dream she had had: "On the very first night of my birthday, the goddess of childbirth drifted over. She smiled broadly at me and said, 'This baby was originally meant for your sister-in-law, but I'm afraid she won't treat him well, so I'll give him to you instead.'" His mother