At the age of 102, Yang Yi, a distinguished translator known for her work on English author Emily Bronte's classic Wuthering Heights, reminisces about the beginning of her 80-year friendship with the late literary giant Ba Jin.

This touching moment is part of an eight-episode documentary Ba Jin, which was shot to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the birth of one of the most influential and well-respected writers of 20th-century China.

Late last month, the program was broadcast on China Central Television's CCTV-9, reaching over 10.45 million households, according to CVB, a television show statistics collector affiliated with the National Radio and Television Administration.

Earlier last year, the series won the Best Documentary of the 32nd China TV Golden Eagle Awards, one of the highest such accolades in the country.

"Ba Jin was not only a distinguished writer, but also a deep thinker. His greatest attribute was his bravery in speaking the truth," says Wang Junjie, chief director of the series and also director of the China Radio and Television Art Research Center.

Speaking about his initial impulse to make the documentary over a decade ago, during his tenure as the deputy head of Jilin Radio and TV Station, Wang says he had the opportunity to explore the lesser-known stories of more than 600 cultural celebrities through the long-running program Hui Jia (Returning Home).

"Since then, I have developed a keen interest in biographical documentaries, and I noticed that Ba Jin had received limited coverage, and no documentary had been dedicated solely to him," he says.

The series employs a nonlinear narrative to explore different facets of the writer's life, from his upbringing in a feudal patriarchal family, to his studies abroad and efforts to establish the country's most influential literary magazine Harvest.

Born into a wealthy family in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in 1904, Ba Jin — who was born as Li Yaotang — achieved literary acclaim with his debut novella Mie Wang (Destruction), which he published under his pen name of Ba Jin while studying in France in 1929.

Following the publication between 1933 and 1940 of his popular semi-biographical trilogy Current — comprising the novels Family, Spring, and Autumn — Ba Jin emerged as one of the most influential writers in the country. In 1960, he was appointed vice-chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

Over the course of his decades-long career, he wrote 20 novels and novellas, 15 short stories, 37 essay collections, and undertook 20 translations. He died at the age of 101 in Shanghai in 2005.

For Wang, the process of making the documentary was akin to a journey back to student days, and gave him a deeper understanding of the literary icon beloved of generations of Chinese.

"I have become a devoted admirer of Ba Jin. His work documents the turbulence and transformation of an era, and captures the relentless pursuit of freedom, equality and human liberation, and serves as a testament to the times," Wang says.

During production, which took nearly six years, Wang and his team interviewed 30 scholars and researchers in cities in China, Russia, Japan and France. Over the course of these travels, which totaled 42,000 kilometers, they consulted historical archives and read extensively, while also shooting 23 terabytes of video footage.

The documentary includes some lesser-known stories about the writer. For example, there is the story about Ba Jin leaving Paris for the nearby town of Chateau-Thierry to study French at a middle school and seek respite from his recurrent tuberculosis in cleaner surroundings. The story is recounted to the film crew by a retired teacher called Tony Legendre, who showed them a letter and several photographs from Ba Jin.

Other examples include Ba Jin's two journeys to the front lines of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53), the conflict known outside of China as the Korean War, where he collected material for his novel Tuan Yuan (Reunion), which was published in 1961 and inspired the 1964 national hit film Heroic Sons and Daughters.

"Ba Jin's life is like an epic. Through the documentary, we want more people to explore his world, grasp the essence of his work, and discover the enlightenment and vibrancy of life in his thoughts," Wang says.

Wang Yichuan, vice-chairman of the China Literature and Art Critics Association, says that the documentary not only explores Ba Jin's most famous novels but also sheds light on later work, like Sui Xiang Lu (Random Thoughts), which was written between 1978 and 1986, and offers reflections on the era as well as the author.

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