Battle for survival brought her closer to poetry
Print Edition
BAI Ruyun was a contestant on a televised classical poetry competition in February, and while she did not win, her story has touched many people.
Bai, 41, from the northern province of Hebei, appeared on the CCTV-broadcast China Poetry Conference wearing a blue puffer jacket and a quiet, modest smile.
She stood in sharp contrast to her competitors who were solemn faced and dressed formally.
Any preconceptions of Bai that the audience may have formed from her appearance were soon disproved when she quoted a 300-year-old poem during her introduction:
“From whichever direction the winds leap,
I remain strong,
though dealt many a blow.”
If there were any doubts over her ability, they were soon put to bed as Bai breezed through the first round, answering all nine questions correctly, some of which involved obscure, little-known verses. Throughout the question-and-answer session, Bai remained poised, as she whispered her answers — her voice left damaged by lymph cancer.
Bai’s fleeting time on national TV has inspired the nation.
Tough life, unyielding spirit
Bai, born into a poor family in Nanhe County in the city of Xingtai, became interested in classical poetry when she was a teenager.
“I was caring for my younger brother who had a brain tumor. When he was seized by extreme pain, he would desperately hit himself on the head. I did not want to restrain him, so I read out poems to divert his attention.”
As she read, the boy would calm down and gradually, she learned all the lines by heart.
Like some of her peers in rural China, Bai could not afford to continue her education after middle school.
This did not stop her from reading and memorizing poems even after a hard day out in the fields.
She knows more than 10,000 classical poems by heart and the philosophy conveyed in the lines helps her cope with whatever life throws at her: Her brother who had the brain tumor is bed bound, another brother went missing at 25, and she had cancer.
When she was treated for cancer, Bai went to every appointment alone. “My husband had to work to raise money, so I decided to manage on my own.”
When Bai was confined to her hospital ward, poetry was her only companion. She brought collections of ancient Chinese poems and read whenever she had time.
To reduce her travel expenses, she would leave home before daybreak, take four buses and a train to hospital in the provincial capital Shijiazhuang. The trip took five hours but cost only 21 yuan (US$3). “In fact, there’s a direct bus from my village to Shijiazhuang, but a ticket costs 45 yuan.”
She underwent many rounds of chemo-therapy, which damaged her hearing and speech. “I felt lucky to be alive and took comfort in the lives of the many great poets who had used their suffering to make them stronger.”
Bai’s husband is a security guard and the couple have two daughters aged 12 and 18. “I help my husband with our small vegetable patch and do the housework. In my spare time, I still enjoy reading poems.”
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