Baptism by Yang Jiang

by Yang Jiang, Judith M. Amory (Translator), Yaohua Shi (Translator)

The characters in this vivid, witty, and engrossing novel, set in a Beijing literary institute right after the revolution, are a group of intellectuals from the old society adjusting to a new reality. There is a love story, intrigue, back-biting, and deception familiar circumstances of academic life. But in the end, all must undergo the harrowing ordeal of public confession in the first great purge of the 1950s. As each responds with subterfuge, terror, or humility, they reveal more about their souls than about their politics. Baptism has wide appeal for general readers, especially those with an interest in China. Written in a direct and fast-moving style with vivid characters and universal plot motifs, it will also be a welcome addition to university courses in modern Chinese literature or Chinese history and politics. Baptism is the only novel written by the distinguished Chinese woman playwright, essayist, and translator, Yang Jiang. Born in 1911, she has experienced the entire sweep of China’s turbulent twentieth-century history. Passages from this novel have already been quoted, in English, in books about the period. Her memoir of life during the Cultural Revolution has been translated twice and widely read.

Genres: Fiction, China, Historical Fiction, Literature, 20th Century, Novels

300 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

YANG Jiang (in Chinese order)

Reviews

[Marcel Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells, in some respects, of the beginnings of the Chinese revolution in a lesser known circle: academia. And yet there is far more to it than one may see at first glance. In some way this is also a story of humanity, of people and their various shortcomings, of intrigues and the usual social clutter and of transformation. It is written in a light, often amusing, and yet profound manner. To me this is not just a great novel in Chinese literature, but a novel that can confidently pride itself of counting amongst the corpus of world literature.

[Bianca Sandale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eine sehr tiefe, bewegende, weil nahe am Alltag entlang balancierende Autobiographie. Tagebucheintragungen. Viel historischer Hintergrund. Großartig übersetzt

[Gregory Kaplan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author of this book is actually Yang Jiang. Judith Amory is a co-translator. It is a very interesting book. Not entertaining or elegant, exactly. But informative. It fictionally treats the early Communist Three-Anti's campaign almost like a news item. The characters are not exactly 3-dimensional. But the plots they enter -- and that conscript them -- are. The third part especially reads like a minute-by-minute account of how intellectual purity trials under Mao worked. Rich in neither language nor drama, the book is worth reading for its almost clinical examination of how intellectuals and masses have and will face off against each other.

[Jin]

I've read this in Chinese, also there is a movie of this book. It's really great movie. So I just wanna read the English version to see what it would be like. :)

[Xingxing Huang · Rating 5 out of 5]

第一次读杨绛先生的作品，文字平实干净，成熟而不世故，不浓烈却让人记忆深刻，确实担得起“先生”二字。

[Jingyao Liu · Rating 4 out of 5]

这本书揭露社会现象揭露得很真实，文笔很好，适合现代人为了了解以前的风气去读的书，但读的体验并不“爽”，很多人物都或懦弱或奸诈，不招读者喜欢。书里基本写了三件事：丈夫在婚姻中外遇出轨；单位里同事勾心斗角；政治斗争知识分子要挣扎着自我检讨。同事勾心斗角的部分读着尤其让人心累，人们都无数个心眼，互相算计，天天思考各种人情世故，如何踩着别人往上爬。然后检讨的部分，如果不熟悉文革的那种畸形气氛，真的很难理解，活在那种年代实在很可怕，不抑郁崩溃保持心理健康真不容易。

～摘抄～
姚宓一人坐着看书--其实她只是对着书本发呆。因为总有个影子浮上书面，掩盖了字句，驱之不散，拂之不去，像水面上的影子，打碎了又抖啊抖的转成原形。
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“做研究工作也得打架，而且得挖空心思打！”
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我好像摸到了无边无际的快乐，心上说不出的甜润，同时又害怕，怕一脱手，又堕入无边无际的苦恼。我得挣脱一切束缚，要求这个残缺的我成为完整。
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范凡做了一个十分诚挚的动员报告。大致说：“[...]质量不高，数量不多，错误却不少。这都是因为旧社会遗留下来的封建思想和资产阶级思想使我们背负着沉重的包袱，束缚了我们的生产力。”
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“一个人越丑越美，越臭越香。像我们这种人，有什么可检讨的呢。人越是作恶多端，越是不要脸，检讨起来才有话说，收起来也有声有色，越显得觉悟高，检讨深刻。不过，也有个难题。你要是打点儿偏手，群众会说你不老实，狡猾，很不够。你要是一口气说尽了，群众再挤你，你添不出货了，怎么办呢？”
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丁宝桂忙回答说：“共产党是全国人民的大救星。”
长桌四周一个个冷漠的脸上立刻凝出一层厚厚的霜。[...]
主席说：“行了，丁先生显然不需要启发或者帮助。散会。”
丁宝桂着急说：“请不吝指教，给我帮助呀。”
主席说：“丁先生，你还没有端正态度，你还在抗拒。”
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丽琳说：“他们要提什么问题，总是拐弯儿磨脚地提一下，叫你好好想想。反正每一句话里，都埋着一款罪状，叫你自己招供。”
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丁宝桂放下了一颗悬在腔子里的心，快活得几乎下泪。他好像中了状元又被千金小姐打中了绣球，如梦非梦，似醒非醒，一路回家好像是浮着飘着的。
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余楠觉得自己像一块经烈火烧炼的黄金，杂质都已炼净，通体金光灿烂，只是还没有凝冷，浑身都觉得软，软得脚也抬不起，头也抬不起。

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eine merkwürdige Biografie. Die ersten Kapitel platzen vor rätselhafter Symbolik - die anderen (die 90% des Werkes ausmachen) sind eher trocken geschrieben und muten wie eine Art chronologische Erinnerungstütze für die Autorin an. Die Kulturrevolution und die gravierenden Folgen für "Die Drei" nimmt prozentuell und emotional erstaunlich wenig Platz ein. Das hat mich irritiert - but who am I to say how someone else should feel / write. Es hat auch was Schönes: Sogar die Schlimmsten Phasen des Lebens gehen vorbei und sind irgendwann der Erwähnung nicht mehr wert.

[新新 Xin-Xin · Rating 2 out of 5]

我不討厭流水帳，但相較於前段的鋪陳，那些知識份子的可笑與我沒辦法理解的婚姻與感情關係，收尾收的太淡然太簡短，只想問 WHAT?

[livexia · Rating 5 out of 5]

要人当众洗澡，怕是最难的事情了，本是洗涤的活动，却成了刮骨疗伤。洗澡本能让人思考，但是当众洗澡却怕是只能把自己独立的思想完全解构拆散。《洗澡》本是平平淡淡的书，讲述的是新中国成立之初文化界发生的事情，但是看完却躺在床上久久不能入睡，想到假如要我自己当众“洗澡”，竟是有了白日噩梦之感。

[Otto · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://fipsfoto.wordpress.com/2021/0...

[Yuke Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

杨绛的文很白，但是很能抓住人，尤其是对于许彦成姚宓的婚外情描写。最后写知识分子洗澡，再看每个人在那种社会环境下的反应，即使是“好了的”余楠也只是一条舔舐伤口的野狗……

[Alex Xu · Rating 5 out of 5]

这里面有多少仇恨和看不上呀

[j11x · Rating 5 out of 5]

人物描写这一部分真的不得不服杨先生！有些地方看不太懂，但是还是挺喜欢这本书的。

[Yull · Rating 3 out of 5]

结局洗澡之后一切又恢复正常

[清 · Rating 5 out of 5]

说不上引人入胜，但还是入木三分。

[Ruofan]

I hate the pettiness of the intellectuals in this book and the complicated office politics in the seemingly most naive literature research organization. Don't know if I will even be able to finish this well known and well reviewed book. (Read 4/5)

[Yafei · Rating 5 out of 5]

新中国知识分子的思想改造

[Clara · Rating 5 out of 5]

控制思想似乎是个很重要的事儿,古代焚书坑儒，现代批斗洗澡。逼着人当众承认自己的思想错误，还要表决心改正，那年叫洗澡，今年叫批评与自我批评。
书里有个知识分子说“十年树木，百年树人，人才是国家的根本；利用天真的学生闹事，不好好读书，就是动摇国家的根本，也是葬送青年人”。应该做成标语，糊某岛学联一脸。
觉得写姚宓许彦成恋爱的笔墨略多，不过很喜欢这种比较简单朴素的文笔。篇幅短没看够，期待《洗澡之后》。

[baishizhiqing · Rating 4 out of 5]

似曾相识

[Qiong · Rating 3 out of 5]

杨绛先生在《洗澡》里对故事节奏把握有条不紊，人物性格刻画细腻周到。只是这个“澡”，洗得并不十分周全。如果还想要更多了解文革始终对中国五六十年代知识分子的思想影响，不妨再读一读王蒙先生的长篇“四季”系列，也是叫人忍俊不禁，大笑之余不免伤感，引人深思。

[HT Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

ending not as expected

[Xuuuuuuuuuu · Rating 4 out of 5]

从成都去伦敦的航班上读完了整本书。
喜欢这样朴素 简单的文笔，把民国后期以及建国初期一部分知识分子的生活平实无华地勾勒出个大概，让从未经历过那段历史的人透过作者的视角略窥一二。

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun dialogue, static characters

[Julian Mok · Rating 4 out of 5]

何谓洗澡呢？把身上的脏污尽数洗去了，一丝不留才是好的。但本就干净的人如何能让人相信自己洗得干净，就要在泥潭里先拼命滚上几圈，后将一层皮几乎都搓下来，还不算完事，再让人们凑上前来，一根一根汗毛拔尽了，才能伤痕累累地出澡盆。这篇故事，就是如此讽刺，却又似乎是很真实的。

[Alex Yang · Rating 5 out of 5]

有趣

[Jessie Wu · Rating 4 out of 5]

特定的历史，特殊的现象。生动的描摹，深入的刻画。开卷令人啼笑，掩卷耐人寻味。

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the China in the 50's, members of a university English Department react in different ways to the new version of China that sprung up with Mao after WWII.
Baptism here is a translation of the Chinese title "Xizao", which means "bath" and was used (according to the Introduction) "to designate ...the 'Three Anti Campaign' of 1951 ... directed against corruption, waste and obstructionial bureaucratism", which targeted "bureaucrats nad managers, as well as all former members of 'bourgeois classes,' businessmen, professionals, and, as in this novel, intellectuals."
I found the reading a little difficult, because it is apparently a close translation of the Chinese, which (as a Chinese friend who was writing her book about that time once told me) has a very different was of expressing things, so it is unusual and sometimes frustrating to read. I hadn't read a Chinese novel in a while, so I'd forgotten how it is.
But I expect it gives an excellent picture of how life was for people like me if I'd lived in China then!