Death closes book on literary genius

BEIJING'S last hermit, the literary genius Qian Zhongshu, died quietly in hospital last month at the age of 88. His death marks almost the final page in the story of a generation set free by the 1919 May 4 Movement and imprisoned by Mao Zedong for 30 years.

Among this group of writers whose destiny was to choose between collaborating or opposing the Communist Party, only a handful are still alive.

One is Bing Xin, writer and translator of children's stories, who at the age of 99 is still living in a hospital ward next door to that just vacated by Qian. A photo of her looking spritely appeared in a Beijing newspaper last week, but for years nothing has been heard of the other survivor, the novelist Ba Jin who must now be 95.

Qian, like many of the others, immersed himself in the traditions of Western literature and travelled abroad, studying in Oxford and the Sorbonne. His death has been little marked in the English-speaking world but French President Jacques Chirac wrote in a message to his widow, Yang Jiang, that he was 'the embodiment of the finest features of the Chinese nation: intelligence, elegance, kindness, openness and modesty'.

Even President Jiang Zemin called Ms Yang at their home, a few weeks before Qian's death, to express the concern of the Communist Party for his well-being.

The Chinese press has been full of articles describing the couple whose odyssey through life is as fascinating as their contributions to Chinese literature. After all Qian went from being a pupil of Sir Reginald Johnson, the last emperor's English tutor, to polishing Mao's poems.

Despite publishing just one major work of fiction, Fortress Besieged ('Wei Cheng'), Qian is nevertheless hailed as perhaps China's greatest 20th-century scholar and writer.