Yang Jiang followed her heart

Yang Jiang (left), her husband, Qian Zhongshu, and their daughter, Qian Yuan, in 1981. Photos provided to China Daily

Yang Jiang will long be remembered for her witty writing and popular translations, but her independent outlook may be her greatest legacy, Yang Yang reports.

Among all the apartments in the 19 three-story buildings near Yuyuantan Park in Beijing, only one has maintained its original look, with neither interior decoration nor the balcony being enclosed with glass.

The apartment in Nanshagou Community, where the famed Chinese writer and translator Yang Jiang lived until her death on May 25 at the age of 104, is typical of her modesty. The space is almost unadorned-whitewalls, cement flooring, an old-fashioned sofa and desks worn by years of use.

Yang and her equally famous husband, Qian Zhongshu, moved into the unit in 1977, just after the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). But Yang lived there alone for nearly two decades after the deaths of Qian and their only daughter, Qian Yuan. While the couple had become household names in the 1980s, they were always indifferent to fame or wealth, and few reporters or readers managed to visit them.

Well-known for her subtle and witty writing style, Yang wrote her first play in 1941. A prolific writer, she became famous for her novels, essays, plays and translated works. Her most popular novel, Baptism, was translated into English, French and Italian. It depicts a group of intellectuals from the old society adjusting to a new one in the early 1950s.

Yang never stopped writing. At 94, she started writing a book Walking onto the Brink of Life to reflect on her life, which won China's top book award in 2007. At 100, she was still writing articles for newspapers.