An enduring relationship

So close and yet so far

Chen Xiaoying, translator, writer and expert on Russian issues, is never happier than when reciting The Song of the Stormy Petrel in Russian, because the 72-year-old believes the poem represents the best of Maxim Gorky.

Chen has a deep love of Russian and Soviet literature, and has not only translated some of the classics into Chinese, but also written several books about Russian and Soviet writers.

His 2010 book, Love of Russia, won the Chekhov Literature Prize, one of Russia's top literary prizes, and his latest book, My Russia: Faraway and Close, recalls his experiences of the country.

In 1958, Chen entered university to study Soviet and Russian literature and language, and is now widely acknowledged as a master of both.

At the time, it was common for Chinese students to have a pen pal in the Soviet Union, and Chen's language skills led to his first "love affair".

At first, Chen and his female pen pal wrote about their studies and daily lives, just like regular friends, but gradually they began exchanging photos and gifts

"She had golden hair and big, deep-blue eyes. She looked exactly as I had imagined," Chen said.

Even though they had never met, Chen and the young woman formed a deep emotional attachment, so when she invited Chen to visit her hometown he was overjoyed.

However, the deterioration in Sino-Russian relations led to the trip being abandoned, and brought an abrupt halt to their exchanges.

Chen received just one more letter. "'Long live the friendship between our countries'. That was the only sentence in her last letter to me," he said.

The sudden end of the relationship was a huge blow to Chen, and he devoted a lot of time to promoting friendly relations between China and the Soviet Union.

As deputy president of the Sino-Russia Cultural Exchange and Promotion Committee, Chen spent years organizing a wide range of activities to help the people of the two countries get to know each other better, but he never met or heard from his "girlfriend" again.