Family (家, pinyin: Jiā, Wade-Giles: Chia), sometimes translated as The Family, is a semi-autobiographical novel by Chinese author Ba Jin, the pen-name of Li Feigan (1904–2005). His most famous novel, it chronicles inter-generational conflict between old ways and progressive aspirations in an upper-class family in the city of Chengdu, a prosperous but provincial city in the fertile Sichuan basin in the early 1920s following the New Culture Movement. The novel was wildly popular among China's youth and established the author as a leading voice of his generation. The novel was first serialized in 1931-2 and then released in a single volume in 1933. The original title was Turbulent Stream (激流 Jīliú), but changed after Ba Jin released it as a single volume. Synopsis The novel focuses on three brothers from the Gao family, Juexin, Juemin and Juehui, and their struggles with the oppressive autocracy of their fengjian and patriarchal family. The idealistic, if rash Juehui, the youngest brother, is the main protagonist, and he is frequently contrasted with the weak eldest brother Juexin, who gives in to the demands from his grandfather, agrees to an arranged marriage and carries on living a life he does not like to live. Characters Gao Juexin () - The eldest brother, who was forced into quitting his university studies and into marrying a woman other than the one he loved. Juexin obeys the Gao family, despite the disapproval from his two brothers. Even though Juexin is in love with Mei, his cousin, he marries Li Ruijue on the orders of Master Gao after he graduates from middle school. After Juemin escapes from the Gao household, Master Gao asks Juexin to find Juemin. Juexin asks Juehui to help him, but the youngest brother accuses Juexin of being a coward. After learning about Mei's death, Juexin is saddened. Han said that "[t]he miserable experience" awakens Juexin, who begins opposing Master Gao. Mei Han, author of the entry on "Family" in The Facts on File Companion to the World Novel: 1900 to the Present, said that Juexin "is a victim of conservatism" who is asked to stop observing idealism, loses the women who are dear to him, and "does nothing but cries in the corner." Jin Feng, author of The New Woman in Early Twentieth-Century Chinese Fiction, said that Juexin is "a character used by a foil to impress upon the reader Juehui's revolutionary courage as compared