Xie Wanying (; October 5, 1900 – February 28, 1999), better known by her pen name Bing Xin () or Xie Bingxin, was one of the most prolific Chinese women writers of the 20th century. Many of her works were written for young readers. She was the chairperson of the

China Federation of Literary and Art Circles The China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC), established in July 1949, is a Chinese people's organization composed of nationwide associations of writers and artists. CFLAC is one of the founders of CPPCC (Chinese People's Political ...

. Her pen name Bing Xin (literally "Ice Heart") carries the meaning of a morally pure heart, and is taken from a line in a Tang dynasty poem by

Wang Changling Wang Changling (; 698–756) was a major Tang dynasty poet. His courtesy name was Shaobo (). He was originally from Taiyuan in present-day Shanxi province, according to the editors of the '' Three Hundred Tang Poems'', although other sources cla ...

. Bing Xin published her first prose in the Morning Post (Chinese: 晨報) ''The Impressions of the 21st Hearing'' and her first novel ''Two Families'' in August 1919. Before and after studying abroad in 1923, she began to publish prose letters ''Jixiaoduzhe (To Young Readers; Chinese: 寄小讀者)'', which became a foundation stone of Chinese children's literature. Bing Xin was hired by the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

as the first foreign female lecturer to teach a Chinese New Literature course. She returned to China in 1951.

Life

Bing Xin was born in

Fuzhou Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

, moved to

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

with her family when she was seven months old, and moved again to the coastal port city of

Yantai Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of the People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao ...

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

when she was four. These moves had a crucial influence on Bing Xin's personality and philosophy of love and beauty, as the vastness and beauty of the sea greatly expanded and refined young Bing Xin's mind and heart. It was also in Yantai that Bing Xin first began to read the classics of

Chinese literature The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with the earliest recorded inscriptions, court archives, building to the major works of philosophy and history written during the Axial Age. The Han dynasty, Han (202 ...

, such as ''

Romance of the Three Kingdoms ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD and ...

'' and ''

Water Margin ''Water Margin'' (), also called ''Outlaws of the Marsh'' or ''All Men Are Brothers'', is a Chinese novel from the Ming dynasty that is one of the preeminent Classic Chinese Novels. Attributed to Shi Nai'an, ''Water Margin'' was one of the e ...

'', when she was just seven. Bing Xin entered Fuzhou Women's Normal School and started preparatory study in 1911. In 1913, Bing Xin moved to

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. She entered the science department of North China Union Women's University (華北協和女子大學) and began to learn to become a doctor. Influences by the

May Fourth Movement The May Fourth Movement was a Chinese cultural and anti-imperialist political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in front of Tiananmen to protest the Chinese government's weak response ...

and the

New Culture Movement The New Culture Movement was a progressivism, progressive sociopolitical movement in China during the 1910s and 1920s. Participants criticized many aspects of traditional Chinese society, in favor of new formulations of Chinese culture inform ...

, Bing Xin transferred to the Department of Literature. The May Fourth Movement in 1919 inspired and elevated Bing Xin's patriotism to new high levels, starting her writing career as she wrote for a school newspaper at

Yanjing University Yenching University () was a private research university in Beijing, China, from 1919 to 1952. The university was formed out of the merger of four Christian colleges between the years 1915 and 1920. The term "Yenching" comes from an alternativ ...

where she was enrolled as a student and published her first novel. While at Yanjing in 1921, Bing Xin was baptized a Christian, but was throughout her life generally indifferent to Christian rituals. Bing Xin graduated from

in 1923 with a bachelor's degree, and went to the United States to study at

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

, earning a master's degree at Wellesley in

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

in 1926. Before and after studying abroad, she wrote prose about her journeys while traveling in foreign countries and sent them back to China for publication. The collection was ''To Young Readers'', which was an early work of Chinese children's literature. She then returned to Yanjing University to teach until 1936. In 1929, she married

Wu Wenzao Wu Wenzao was a Chinese sociologist, anthropologist, ethnologist. He was born in Jiangyin, Jiangsu. He was admitted into Tsinghua University at 1917. In 1923, his schoolmate Pan Guangdan (Quentin Kuang-tan Pan) persuaded him to go abroad to st ...

, an

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

and her good friend when they were studying in the United States. Together, Bing Xin and her husband visited different intellectual circles around the world, communicating with other intellectuals such as

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

. In 1940, Bing Xin was elected a member of the National Senate. During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

, she wrote ''guanyu nüren (About Women)'' under the pen name Nan Shi (Mr. Man) in Chongqing, and actively engaged in creation and cultural salvation activities in

Kunming Kunming is the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China. The political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province, Kunming is also the seat of the provincial government. During World War II, Kunming was a Ch ...

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

and other places. After war period, Bing Xin worked at the Department of New Chinese Literature at the University of Tokyo, and taught the history of Chinese new literature from 1949 to 1951, and published some short articles in local newspapers. Later in her life, Bing Xin taught in Japan for a short period and stimulated more cultural communications between China and the other parts of the world as a traveling Chinese writer. In literature, Bing Xin founded the "Bing Xin Style" as a new literary style. She contributed a lot to children's literature in China (her writings were incorporated into children's textbooks), and also undertook various translation tasks, including translating the works of Indian literary figure

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

. Because of the translation of

Kahlil Gibran Gibran Khalil Gibran (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and Visual arts, visual artist; he was also considered a philosopher, although he himself reject ...

's '' The Prophet'', ''Sand and Foam'', Rabindranath Tagore's ''

Gitanjali __NOTOC__ ''Gitanjali'' () is a collection of poems by the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, for its English translation, '' Song Offerings'', making him the first non-European and the fi ...

, The Gardener'' and other works, she was awarded the

National Order of the Cedar The National Order of the Cedar () is the highest Order (honour), state order of Lebanon, established on 31 December 1936. It is offered in five grades. History The Order was created on the 31 December 1936, but is regulated by the Lebanese C ...

by the president of the Republic of Lebanon in 1995. Tagore's prose poems inspired Bing Xin. She wrote the influential prose letters ''To the Little Readers'', which was the best example. Affected by Tagore's pantheism, Bing Xin's creation moves towards the chant of tender love. With Tagore's influence, Bing Xin also created ''Fanxing'' and ''Chunshui''. Bing Xin said, when she wrote ''Fanxing (A Maze of Stars)繁星'' and ''Chunshui (Spring Water)春水'', she was not writing poems. She was just influenced by Tagore's ''Stray Birds'' and wrote these "fragmented thoughts" in a few words in her notebook then collected into a collection. Bing Xin's literary career was prolific and productive. She wrote a wide range of works—prose, poetry, novels, reflections, etc. Her career spanned more than seven decades in length, from 1919 to the 1990s. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

(1966–1976), Bing Xin and her family were denounced. She was sent to a

May Seventh Cadre School May Seventh Cadre Schools () were a system of rural communes throughout mainland China established during the Cultural Revolution to train Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Cadre system of the Chinese Communist Party, cadres to follow the mass line, in ...

in Xianning, Hubei province. After the Cultural Revolution, Bing Xin ushered in the second creative climax in her life. In June 1980, Bing Xin suffered from cerebral thrombosis, but she still insisted on writing. The short story ''Kongchao (Empty Nest)空巢'' was published during this period and won the National Excellent Short Story Award. In September 1994, Bing Xin was admitted to

Beijing Hospital Beijing Hospital ( zh, t=北京醫院 , s=北京医院 , p=Běijīng Yīyuàn) is a large-scale Class-A tertiary hospital directly under the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China. Founded in 1905 as a German military hosp ...

due to heart failure. From February 13, 1999, her condition deteriorated and she died on February 28, 1999, in Beijing Hospital at the age of 98. Shortly before her death,

Zhu Rongji Zhu Rongji ( zh, s=朱镕基; IPA: ; born 23 October 1928) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the 5th premier of China from 1998 to 2003. He also served as member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP ...

Li Ruihuan Li Ruihuan (born September 17, 1934) is a Chinese retired politician. Li was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), China's top decision-making body, between 1989 and 2002. Li served as Chairman of th ...

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the president of China from 2003 to 2013, and chairman of the Central Military Comm ...

and other central leaders, as well as leaders and writers' representatives of the

China Writers Association The China Writers Association (CWA) is a subordinate people's organization of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC). Founded in July 1949, the organization was initially named the China National Literature Workers Association. ...

visited her in person in the hospital.

Legacy

*There is a Bing Xin Literature Museum in

Changle (, Foochow Romanized: Diòng-lŏ̤h) is one of 6 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province, China. It occupies a land area of and a sea area of . Changle was established in the sixth year of Emper ...

Province. *The

Bing Xin Children's Literature Award The Bing Xin Children's Literary Award (''Bing Xin ertong wenxue xinzuo jiang'' 冰心儿童文学新作奖) is named after the Chinese writer Bing Xin, whose work has made her a key figure in 20th-century Chinese literature The history of C ...

() is named in her honour. Her daughter Wu Qing continues to be involved with the award.

Selected works

*''Liangge Jiating'' (两个家庭, ''Two Families'') (1919) *''Jimo'' (寂寞, ''Loneliness'') (1922) *''Xianqing'' (閒情, ''Leisure'') (1922) *''Chaoren'' (超人, ''Superhuman'') (1923) *''Fanxing'' (繁星, ''A Myriad of Stars'') (1923) *''Chunshui'' (春水, ''Spring Water'') (1923) *''Liu yi jie'' (六一姐, ''Six-one sister'') (1924) *''Ji xiao duzhe'' (寄小讀者, ''To Young Readers'') (1926) *''Nangui'' (南歸, ''Homeward South'') (1931) *''Wangshi'' (往事, ''The Past'') (1931) *''Bing Xin Quanji'' (冰心全集, ''The Collected Works of Bing Xin'') (1932–1933) *''Yinghua zan'' (櫻花讚, ''Ode to Sakura'') *''Wo men zheli meiyou dongtian'' (我們這裡沒有冬天, ''No Winter in My Hometown'') (1974) *''Wo de guxiang'' (我的故鄉, ''My Home'') (1983) *''Guanyu nuren'' (關於女人, ''About Females'') (1999)

Poetry

* "Stars·Spring Water", Shanghai Commercial Press, 1923 * "The Complete Works of Bing Xin Part 2: Collected Poems of Bing Xin", Shanghai Beixin Book Company, 1932; Kaiming Publishing House, 1943

Prose

* "The Complete Works of Bing Xin Part 3: Collected Prose by Bing Xin", Shanghai Beixin Book Company, 1932; Kaiming Publishing House, 1943 * "Travel Notes along Pingsui Railway", Pingsui Railway Administration, 1935 * "About Women", Shanghai Tiandi Publishing House, 1943 * "Returning to the South", Shanghai Beixin Book Company, 1945 * "After Returning", Writers Publishing House, 1958 * "We Awakened the Spring", Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House, 1960 * "Ode to Cherry Blossoms", Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House, 1962 * "Xiaozha Gleaners", Writers Publishing House, 1964 * "Selected Prose by Bing Xin", Beijing People's Literature Publishing House, after 1983, Bing Xin wrote other novels in 1984

Novels

* "The Complete Works of Bing Xin Part 1: Collected Novels of Bing Xin", Shanghai Beixin Book Company, 1932; Kaiming Publishing House, 1943 * "Going to the Country", Shanghai Beixin Book Company, 1933 * "Dong'er Girl", Shanghai Beixin Book Company, 1935 * "Aunt", Kaiming Publishing House, 1987

Letters

* "Past Events", Peking Xinhua News Agency, 1931

Children's literature

* "Tao Qi's Summer Diary", Beijing Children's Publishing House, 1956 * "Miscellaneous Notes on Returning Home", Beijing Children's Publishing House, 1957 * "Remail to Little Readers", Beijing People's Daily, Children's Times, 1958 * "For Young Readers (26 articles in total)", Kaiming Publishing House, 1978 * "Three Letters to Little Readers", Beijing Children's Publishing House, 1981 * "Only Picking Children and Traveling to Many Places", Beijing Children's Publishing House, 1981 * "Selected Works of Bing Xin", Beijing Children's Publishing House, 1982

Discussions

* "Memory Beads", Beijing People's Literature Publishing House, 1982 * "Bing Xin on Creation", Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1982

Collections

* "Leisure" (poetry, prose), Shanghai Beixin Book Company, 1922 * "Selected Novels and Essays of Bing Xin" (novels, essays), China International Humanities Publishing House, 1954 * "Little Orange Lantern" (novel, prose, poetry), Writers Publishing House, 1960 * 1980* "Wanqing Collection" (prose, novels), Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House, 1980 * "Selected Works of Bing Xin" (two volumes), Chengdu Sichuan People's Publishing House, 1983

Translations

* "Birds" (poetry), Rabindranath Tagore, India, 1929 * "The Prophet" (prose poem), by the Lebanese-American poet Jiha Gibran, Crescent Bookstore, September 1931 * "Collection of Indian Fairy Tales" (Collection of Fairy Tales), India's Mu Ra Annad, China Youth Publishing House, January 1955 * "Gitanjali" (Collection of Poems), Tagore, India, Beijing People's Literature Publishing House, 1955 * "Indian Folktales" (Collection of Stories), India's Mu Ra Annad, Children's Publishing House, 1955 * "Selected Poems of Rabindranath Tagore" (co-translation) (Collection of Poems), Rabindranath Tagore, India, Humanities Press, 1958 * "Collected Plays of Rabindranath Tagore" (Collection of Plays), Rabindranath Tagore, India, China Drama Publishing House, 1959 * "Copy of Mahendra's Poems" (Co-translation) (Collection of Poems), Mahend Writers Publishing House, Nepal, 1965 * "Lamp Burner" (Collected Poems), Anton Buttigieg, Malta, People's Literature Publishing House, 1981

Complete works

* Complete Works of Bing Xin (eight volumes), Fuzhou: Straits Literature and Art Publishing House, December 1994; (9 volumes) March 1999; (ten volumes) May 2012 * The Complete Works of Bing Xin, Volume 1 Literary Works 1919 -1923 * The Complete Works of Bing Xin Volume 2 Literary Works 1923-1941 * The Complete Works of Bing Xin Volume 3 Literary Works 1942-1957 * The Complete Works of Bing Xin Volume 4 Literary Works 1958-1961 * "The Complete Works of Bing Xin" Volume 5 Literary Works 1962-1979 * "The Complete Works of Bing Xin" Volume 6 Literary Works 1980-1986 * "The Complete Works of Bing Xin" Volume 7 Literary Works 1987-1997 * "The Complete Works of Bing Xin" Volume 8 Letters 1928-1997 * "The Complete Works of Bing Xin" Volume 9 Translations 1931-1961 * "The Complete Works of Bing Xin" Volume 10 Translations 1962-1980

Honours

Foreign Orders and Medals

(Lebanon, approved in March 1995, awarded at Beijing Hospital in 1997, now in the Bing Xin Literature Museum)

Works available in English

*''The Photograph''.

Chinese Literature Press The Chinese Literature Press (中国文学出版社) is a state-owned book publisher in China established in 1951, focusing on translating Chinese literature The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with the ea ...

(1992) *''Spring Waters''.

Peking Beijing, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city by urban area after Shanghai. It is l ...

, (1929) *''The Little Orange Lamp'' (小橘灯, 1957), translated by Gong Shifen, ''Renditions'', Autumn 1989, pp. 130–132.

References

Portrait

Bing Xin. A Portrait by Kong Kai Ming
at Hong Kong Baptist University Library

External links

*
冰心网 (Bing Xin Net)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bing Xin 1900 births 1999 deaths Victims of the Cultural Revolution Chinese Christians Chinese women poets Pseudonymous women writers Writers from Fuzhou Wellesley College alumni Boxer Indemnity Scholarship recipients Yenching University alumni 20th-century Chinese poets 20th-century Chinese women writers Chinese women short story writers 20th-century Chinese short story writers Poets from Fujian Chinese women novelists 20th-century Chinese novelists Short story writers from Fujian 20th-century pseudonymous writers