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Midpoint o f a n Ordinar y Lif e Xie Bingyincj Translated b y Shirle y Chan g Xie Bingying (1906-2000), originally named Xie Minggang, was born in Xinhua, Hunan. She started to write in 1921 when she entered Hunan First Female Normal School in Changsha. In 1926 she became a cadet at the Central Military Political School in Wuhan and joinedthe Northern Expedition army the following year. She studied at Waseta University in Japan in J 935 and returned to China at the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japanin 1937 to do her part for her country. She organized a women s service team in Hunan on the front and also edited a journalcalled Yellow River Literary Journal (Huanghe wenyi). After the war, she became a professor at Beijing Normal University (Beijing shifan daxue). In 1948 she moved to Taiwan to teach at the current National Normal University. She retired in 1971 and relocated to the United States in 1974. As a prolific writer, the corpus of her writing includes novels, short stories, essays, and travelogues. War Diary (Cong jun riji, 1828) and Autobiograph y o f a Femal e Soldie r (J936), her most well known works, have been translated into many different languages. I. M y Famil y Xieduo Mountain was a small village. Right next to the road linking Anhua and Xinhua , i t sa w traveler s com e an d g o all day long . Especially i n July and Augus t i n th e luna r calendar , villager s headin g fo r Moun t Hen g t o 152 • XIEBINGYIN G worship the Sage King of Southern Yue would walk by in groups, chantin g songs of worship all the way. In the quiet of the night, their singing would occasionally wake us up. There was a long street in this village where meat, liquor, and othe r food item s such as candy could be purchased. Customer s who frequente d thes e store s wer e mostl y men , an d wome n a s a rul e di d not g o to market . This wa s a beautiful place . The villag e itsel f wa s surrounded b y littl e hills, an d a winding river , lik e a belt, murmure d a rhythmic son g all year round. The river was so clear that you could see tiny shrimps swimming i n it. I n spring , girl s picking te a leave s melte d you r sou l wit h thei r singing . Those wome n wer e al l farmers wh o di d not g o out usually , s o during thi s time, the y covere d thei r head s wit h kerchief s o f blu e o r othe r colors , exposing onl y thei r faces . When the y sa w men, the y lowere d thei r head s and quickl y walke d b y like shy brides. In th e whol e village you could no t find even one woman with natural feet, as everybody had their feet bound , pointed a s small re d peppers . "Women shoul d al l bind thei r feet, a big-footed woma n will never b e married off. " Ol d wome n al l said so. I grew up i n suc h a n environment . My father , m y grandfather' s onl y son , wa s a ju ren 1 during th e Qin g dynasty. He was naturally intelligen t an d had a n especially good memory . In hi s eighties , h e coul d stil l remember thing s tha t ha d happene d i n hi s childhood an d recit e poem s he ha d rea d a s a child. Som e o f his student s called hi m Kangxi Dictionary (Kangx i zidian), 2 a s h e alway s ha d read y answers to their questions about literary allusions. He was taciturn but kind. However, i f he go t angr y ove r something , h e woul d los e his tempe r wit h no restraint. He never told a lie in his whole life and never harmed other s to benefi t himself . Mother , lik e Father , als o won estee m fro m everybod y in the village. She was smart, ambitious, and hardworking. She...

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