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Bingxin, formerly known as Xie Wanying, is a famous Chinese poet, writer, translator, and children’s writer, whose pen name is taken from “A Piece of Ice Heart in the Jade Pot”, and is known as “the old man of the century” and “the grandmother of the literary world”.

Bingxin studied at the prestigious Wesleyan University in the United States [Soong Meiling also attended this university in the United States], and later taught at Yenching University, Tsinghua University, and the University of Tokyo in Japan, and was elected vice president of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

In a preface, she writes of Lao She: “Speaking of Lao She’s good deeds, sharing, and warmth, I remember once when we talked about the Bible, he said that ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive’ [Acts 20:35]. I think Lao She is the most blessed person in doing good deeds. Lao, She is a Christian, I never knew that. But I received a Christian education from middle school to university”.

Bingxin is a Christian who has translated some Christian poetry. She once wrote the poem “Heavenly Baby”: “You may sleep in a manger, gazing at the sky.” This clear singing voice and precious words urged him to think. I want to have only tears in my eyes, blood in my heart, running to the cross, running to the crown of thorns, thinking about how to settle down in my life. The stars are in the sky, the night is deep, and the burden of sin begins to be borne. ”

Bingxin enthusiastically promotes the “philosophy of love”, and it can be said that the idea of Christ’s fraternity is the basic fulcrum of her literary creation, and her novels, poems, and essays, wherever her heart and pen, are always and everywhere about the word “love”: childlike innocence, maternal love, love for nature and love for the motherland.

On the afternoon of February 14, 1999, Bingxin’s daughter Wu Qingwei snuggled up to her mother and sang the song “Christmas Eve” to her mother in proficient English, blessing her mother affectionately. She said: “Usually when we celebrate the holidays at home, my mother always sings the song “Christmas Eve” with us. The old man listened quietly, listened, listened to the familiar singing, slowly opened his eyes, and smiled slightly. Perhaps, this song evokes memories of her past. Later, when the prime minister came to visit, Wu Qing interrupted his singing. Bingxin passed away on February 28 at the age of 99. (From the March 5, 1999 issue of Writer’s Digest Youth Guide)

Wu Qing is a professor at the University of Foreign Chinese in Beijing and vice chairman of the Women’s World Supreme Foundation. After Bingxin’s death, she went to Mabian County, Sichuan Province to teach rural female teachers. During the lecture, she shed tears three times and said, “My mother is a writer, my teacher, my role model. Mom won the Japan Children’s Literature Award with a prize of 30,000 yuan. She had always wanted to use the prize money to donate to school dropouts in poor mountainous areas, and today, I am here to fulfill her last wish. My mother donated all her manuscript fees, her books, calligraphy and paintings, and even her five organs and brains” 

On March 1, 1999, Hong Kong’s “Sing Tao Daily” commented on Bing Xin: “Since 1920, she has been influenced by Tagore’s works. She is known as the ‘grandmother of the literary world’, she has left her broad love to countless weak people who need help the most, and she has left to China the spirit of advocating democracy, being indifferent to fame and fortune, and hating evil. ”

On March 3, 1999, the French newspaper Le Monde commented on Bing Xin: “She has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. In contemporary Chinese literature, she has always been one of the great women who embody the spirit of freedom. ”

In his 1921 essay “Me + Christ=?”, Bingxin said: that Simon’s bravery, permeated in the love of Christ, and became Peter and became the pillar of the Christian church. What effect can I get if I am infiltrated with the love of Christ? Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12) and said, “While there is light, believe in the light and make you children of light” (John 12:36). The disciple John said, “That light is the true light that enlightens all who are born into the world” (John 1:9). The unique talents of the world, brought into play, are also like flowers. However, if his genius is not shrouded in the true light of Christ, and then reflected, the result is only silence, bleakness, no spirit, no business, no difference from the walking dead.

The light shines on the whole world, and it only depends on who is willing to follow Christ and who wants to be a “child of light.” Who wants to be shrouded in the love of Christ, and who wants to use the reflection of light to carry forward his special genius and contribute to the great effect of mankind? Engrave this equation in your mind, and always push the answer to this equation, which is: I + Christ =? (Excerpt from “Essays on the Heart of Ice”).

There is faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these three is love. —1 Corinthians 13:13

Ice Heart’s hymn

“Life” What is life?

Do you want to know him?
He —- is an epiphany, It’s morning dew, It’s the shadow of the clouds;In an instant, it appeared, it blew away.

My God!
You created the world, Why is he so illusory?

Yesterday —- passed. Today —- still? Tomorrow —- Who knows!

My God!
The end of all things is near, Clear, I pray thee, Calling on you to pray for you, Until the day of the end of all things, amen.

Editor’s note: James 4:14 reads: You don’t even know if you’re alive tomorrow! Psalm 89:47 reads: Remember how short my life is, and remember that all you have made will perish.