Ha Jin was born in a remote town in Liaoning in 1956. He joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army when he was fourteen years old. At that time, his troops were stationed on the Sino-Soviet border. He often wrote propaganda materials in the army, which laid a good foundation for his future creations. He studied diligently and actively in the army. Six years later, he left the army and went to university. Soon after, the Cultural Revolution began. Before finishing college, he came to another remote area and worked as a railway operator for three years. When the college entrance examination was resumed in 1977, he was admitted to the English Department of Heilongjiang University, and later studied for a master's degree in American literature at Shandong University. He immigrated to the United States in 1985 and currently lives in Massachusetts and teaches at Boston University. He writes in English, not only novels but also poetry. His two collections of poetry are Between Silences and Facing Shadows. Ha Jin's first collection of short stories, "Ocean of Words," won the 1997 Hemingway Literary Award. "Under the Red Flag" is a collection of short stories that describes all aspects of military and civilian life. . His works contain personal, historical and political reflections. In 2000, he also published a short story collection "The Bridegroom"
His first novel "In the Pond" (In the Pond). It mainly describes Shao Bin's difficult life. Shao Bin is an amateur painter and calligrapher who works in a decoration shop. In order to please some leaders, the work unit transferred the housing that Shao Bin applied for to the leaders' relatives without authorization. Shao Bin was very dissatisfied and began to draw cartoons satirizing the corruption of local leaders. These cartoons were eventually published in Beijing Daily. Shao Bin then became the center of everyone's controversy. There is an allegorical style in Ha Jin's novel, which is fresh and charming. As far as this novel is concerned, it is very similar to the works of the British novelist Orwell.
Ha Jin's second novel "Waiting" won the National Book Award in 1999. "Waiting" tells the emotional story of a military doctor named Rincon over the past twenty years. Lin Kong was arranged by his family to marry Shuyu, an uneducated but virtuous wife. Since the two places were separated, their relationship was dull. Rin Kong later fell in love with the nurse Wu Manna, and then decided to divorce Shuyu, but Shuyu did not accept it. According to military regulations, a marriage can be automatically dissolved if they have been separated for 18 years. Year after year, divorce cannot be realized, love is close at hand but out of reach. When showing the inner world of the characters, the author makes excellent use of detailed description and action description, making the characters vivid and lifelike. Throughout the book, there are strict party spirit principles that constrain human nature. The author uses humorous techniques to narrate the story heartily.
The Crazed is a novel by Hacking published by Random House in January 2004. The story takes place in the summer of 1989, at a provincial university in China, and the main character is Jianwan. He is a student and the narrator of the text. Professor Yang is an old and respected professor. He is Jianwan's mentor and the father of his fiancée Meimei. At the beginning of the novel, Professor Yang was hospitalized due to a stroke. Due to his confusion, he roared loudly and complained in the hospital bed. The madness in the article was aimed at him. Jianwan was arranged by the department leadership to take care of the professors. The professor occasionally recalled his secret and undisclosed love, and more often complained that his academic life was meaningless. Jianyuan was preparing to take the Ph.D. examination at Peking University. He listened to the professor's incoherent speech. He was surprised at first, and then gradually wavered in his pursuit of life: What kind of pursuit of life is the most meaningful? What the novel reveals is the author's unique understanding and feelings about self-worth, family, work, and society. The ideas expressed in the work are not limited to the here and now, but have universal social significance. This is also the reason why this work has aroused widespread popularity in the Western world.
The Ha Jin that needs to be pointed out here is just his pen name. His original name was Xue Fei. After he came to the United States, he was not used to Westerners calling him Xue Fei. He studied in Harbin for four years. , and like this city very much, so it is not surprising that Ha Jin came from Harbin.