Yang Jiang, Xizao 洗澡 (Baptism, 1987)
Chapter 3
We learn the history of the "Beiping Institute of National Learning" 北平國學專修社 and how it has entered a new era of transition. The "Institute" started up and established, more or less, by Yao Jian 姚謇, a literature professor who failed to flee Beijing as the Japanese invaded. He, his wife, his assistant Ma Renzhong, Ma's wife, a few other teachers and three students occupied a few rooms on Yao's old family property, which by wartime had mostly been sold or leased away. The Institute is a secluded community that collectively spends its time punctuating the Historical Records of Sima Qian. Or rather pretending to, as most folks prefer to sit around chatting and drinking tea.
Yao Jian has one daughter, Yao Mi 姚宓. She is 19 years old in 1945. Her father unexpectedly passes away, and her mother, already unstable, is plunged into deep melancholy. Yao Mi drops out of college, uses her small inheritance to send her mother to a German sanitarium, and takes up a low-paid position as librarian at the Institute.
In 1949, Yao Jian's former assistant, Ma Renzhi, takes over as director and prepares to re-establish the institute under Communist control. Yun Nan joins the faculty.
No comments:
Post a Comment