"One Hundred Years, Many People, Many Things" Author: Yang Yi/Oral/ Yu Bin/Written Publisher: Yilin Press

Introduction · · · · · ·
"One does not know how many people and events a person will encounter in his life. At my age, I have experienced the warlords' melee, the Anti-Japanese War, the Liberation War, and everything that happened after the founding of New China. Although I am an ordinary person, I have many people to remember and many things to say."

This book is the only oral autobiography of Yang Yi, a person of the same age as the May Fourth Movement, a progressive student of Southwest Associated University, a famous translator, and a centenarian. From 1919 to today, Yang Yi's 100 years of life are exactly the 100 years of wind and rain and vicissitudes of China. The tempering of the times and life condensed into a song of innocence and romance of a generation of intellectual women.

Looking back over the century, Yang Yi values ​​her "days" more than legends and achievements, and the family, friendship, love and worldly affairs it carries: in the deep house of her childhood, she could not make out the glory of her ancestors and the vicissitudes of the political and business circles of the Beiyang government, but she could not forget the circumstances of ordinary people; the friendship of classmates, the thoughts of girls, poetry and drama, the "Chinese and Western" ten years riding on the wings of songs, were the most carefree; when the nation was in danger, she sang "On the Songhua River" on the way from Tianjin, Shanghai, Hong Kong to Kunming, and the flame of civilization was not extinguished; from Southwest Associated University to Central University, the memory is still full of young figures - the first meeting with "literary idol" Ba Jin, Wen Yiduo with dust on his head after the bombing, Wu Mi tapping his cane on the stone road, Shen Congwen, the teacher who "praised us as brave girls", and the moonlight chat by the Dian River, the reunion and farewell by the Jialing River...

Scholar Yu Bin spent ten years listening to resist forgetting and using details to get to the truth of history. Family history, jade years, the road to study, mountains and rivers, and people and events of a century slowly unfold in the narrative. "I consciously or unconsciously acted as a middleman between Mr. Yang and the readers. This should be an oral history that can be presented to the general readers."

【Editor's recommendation】

1. The only oral autobiography of Yang Yi, a centenarian who was a contemporary of the May Fourth Movement, a progressive student of Southwest Associated University, the famous translator who first translated the name "Wuthering Heights".

From "Dream of the Red Chamber" and "The Scholars" to "The Red and the Black" and "Wuthering Heights", Mr. Yang Yi, his brother Yang Xianyi and his wife Zhao Ruihong jointly promoted the dialogue between Chinese and the world, allowing literary classics to take root and blossom like seeds in the soil of different civilizations, and achieving one peak after another in the Chinese literary translation industry.

2. A century of family and national history: the times are not the background of her life, her life is the times itself.

Warlords' fighting, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the War of Liberation, the founding of New China... From 1919 to the present, China has experienced tremendous changes in the past century, with families and countries, individuals and society experiencing ups and downs. What she has provided for history is a special testimony, conveying the "universal echo of life."

3. The romantic life of a generation of intellectual women: time flies by, but beauty never tires.

"I was born in the May Fourth Movement and grew up during the most difficult period for our country. But even under such difficult conditions, the young generation's vigor, enthusiasm and sense of responsibility were not lost at all." Patriotism, progress, and the pursuit of truth and justice are integrated into Mr. Yang Yi's life choices like blood. His bright personality allows the world to see how a life imbued with literary life, literary career, and literary pursuits is full and smooth, elegant and tenacious, optimistic and calm.

4. An optimistic and open-minded view of people and the world: Life is worth living, and being alive is a victory.

Because of her longevity, she has seen the end of almost everyone. Honor and disgrace, birth, aging, sickness and death have all become stories with a beginning and an end. However, behind the calm narration, we can still feel the weight of the word "fate". A word she often says is "fun". "Fun" affects her memory and the selection of memory, and there is a kind of attitude behind it to observe people and the world.

5. An oral history for ordinary readers: Scholar Yu Bin spent ten years listening to resist forgetting and using details to get to the warmth and truth of history. Attached is the 10,000-word "Book Completion Notes".

Fragments of family memories, traces of old friends that are unforgettable, secret thoughts of young girls, and the torrent of the times that one has personally experienced... In a small living room of about ten square meters, a conversation that resists forgetting by listening lasted for more than ten years and finally became a book. "What I want to achieve is first truth, second truth, and third truth, and the path to this truth is first details, second details, and third details." History with warmth is the gathering and symphony of countless individual "destinies". Witnessing individual destinies is also "witnessing history."

6. Contains 150 precious historical photos, printed in color throughout; the book has a seamed bare spine, showing the beauty of time; and the exquisite pull-out pages freeze 10 decades.

As he was born into a family of noble origin, Mr. Yang has kept a large number of photos since the beginning of the 20th century. This book contains more than 150 precious historical photos, all in color, supplemented by detailed illustrations as an extension and supplement to the oral narration. Designed and coordinated by Zhou Weiwei, winner of the "Most Beautiful Book in China" award, the dark green color scheme implies the evergreen life. The text is printed on pure wood pulp paper, suitable for both collection and reading; the pictures are printed on classical art paper to restore the true color. The stitching is bare, the binding is elegant, and the beauty of the years is fully displayed. Attached is an exquisite pull-out page, 10 decades, and a century of history is frozen between the eyebrows.

【Comments & Voices】

Bi Feiyu | Zhang Lixian | Lu Yu | Xu Bei highly recommends

Mr. Yang Yi was a contemporary of the May Fourth Movement, a progressive student who had moved from Southwest Associated University to a broader life, an important translator who first coined the name "Wuthering Heights" and made it a classic, and a diligent writer of poetry, prose, and children's literature. When the country was in decline, Mr. Yang Yi was unwilling to stay in the shelter of his family, and with his youthful blood, he threw himself into the torrent of the times and shared the fate of the motherland; when his country was prosperous, Mr. Yang Yi, in his seventies, completed the translation of works such as "Songs of Innocence and Experience" and "I Come Naked: A Biography of Rodin" with his brilliant pen, still full of vigor and vigor.

—— Tie Ning, Chairman of the China Writers Association and Chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and Zhang Hongsen, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Chairman of the China Writers Association

Every time I visit Ms. Yang Yi, I can feel her quietness and her impact. She can quietly inspire and encourage others. She is critical, but also respectable. In her home, I have experienced the happiness from Yang Yi countless times. I believe that I am definitely not the only one who has experienced this happiness.

——Bi Feiyu, Vice Chairman of the China Writers Association and Chairman of the Jiangsu Writers Association

This article is an oral record, and the subject is the translator Yang Yi, who is already 100 years old. The value of the article does not lie in external things such as age and identity, but in its spiritual core: this is a good "demystifying" article, which breaks our commonplace worship and praise of the so-called "last aristocracy" and "gentlemen's family".

——Zhang Lixian, editor-in-chief of Duku

Ms. Yang Yi is not an ordinary centenarian. Among her family, teachers and friends, there are many shining figures in China's modern history; her classmates at Southwest Associated University and Central University - those young lives with different beliefs, different family backgrounds, and different temperaments, each has a sad fate - this is destined to make Ms. Yang Yi's oral autobiography, and also the history of her family and country in the past hundred years. The times are not the background of her life, her life is the times itself.

——Xu Bei, director of "Southwest Associated University" and "Post-90s"