The great soul of Ba Jin, one of the greatest literary maestros in China who passed away several days ago, will be always remembered by numerous Chinese readers and will shine as the brightest star in heaven, said Yu Chunchao, a Tsinghua University student.

Yu, unlike most of his compatriots in 1980s, adored Ba Jin as his personal instructor spiritually. "Ba Jin dedicated all his life to showing people the utmost true side of his heart, therefore he received people's love and respect," Yu said.

Born in Chengdu city, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Ba Jin was widely recognized as one of the greatest masters in modernChinese cultural history and an eminent publisher and editor. Ba'strue name was Li Yaotang or Li Fugan. His main works, including "Family", "Spring", "Autumn", "The Trilogy of Love", "A Dream of Sea" and "Autumn in Spring", are viewed as landmarks of modern Chinese culture.

"Ba Jin always tried to speak truth in his whole life," said Cong Weixi, a well-known writer who opened up a new path of Chinese literature on portraying imprisoned life. Cong, undergoinghardship brought by a series of political movement including the Cultural Revolution, was highly inspired by the struggling spirit in Ba's works.

In 1983, Ba presented Cong with a collection of his masterpieces, among which there was "Random Thoughts", a long memoir that reflects China's chaotic turmoil of Cultural Revolution. In the memoir, he calls for human dignity and human rights and for self-examination, and asserts that "thinking independently" and "daring to speak out the truth" have utility inavoiding another Cultural Revolution.

The "Random Thoughts" by the maestro now once again became a bestseller following his death, as Writers Press, which bought thecopyrights of Ba Jin works, received many phone calls from around the country ordering the book.

Li Guowen, another well-known writer, said Ba Jin represents the moral resurrection of the Chinese literary circle. "The reasonwhy Ba dared to speak out the truth is that he loved his motherland and people who suffered long time of aggression and humiliation over the past century. His life-long goal is to write and voice for the people."

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