The real Tolstoy

A statue of Tolstoy and his granddaughter on display as part of the Leo Tolstoy and His Times exhibition at the National Museum of China Photo: Xu Ming/GT

Readers of Leo Tolstoy are sure to be familiar with this sentence, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," a saying which has proven famous across the globe. Now fans of this literature giant in China have the opportunity to have a look at the manuscript from which this widely circulated saying originated, as Anna Karenina and other Tolstoy memorabilia is being exhibited at Beijing's National Museum of China (NMOC).

With objects including paintings, sculptures, manuscripts and other personal items, Leo Tolstoy and His Times provides visitors an all-around picture of this great writer's family life, thinking and life in general.

A great man

Deemed one of the most important writers in Russian literature history, Tolstoy (1828-1910) and his works have played a significant role in the world of global literature. Besides his literature achievements and influence, the legendary author's thoughts on equality and nonviolent resistance have exerted profound influence on the world, as manifested in figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi.

The NMOC exhibition, the biggest ever held about Tolstoy outside of Russia, doesn't limit its interest in just his works. It consists of six parts that introduce Tolstoy from different angles, showing the diversified life the writer led.

The exhibition starts with a small hall, where visitors find themselves facing a portrait of Tolstoy the minute they walk into the hall. The painting is said to be the first portrait of Tolstoy painted by Russian painter Ilya Yefimovich Repin and one of the most famous works created by this artist.

Also displayed in this hall are copies of Tolstoy's novels that have been published in many languages all over the world.

The section about him and his family takes two large halls. It is well known that Tolstoy was born into a noble family, but few Chinese readers have had the chance to get a close look at his family life.

Led by a portrait copied by Tolstoy's wife S.A. Tolstaya, the section boasts the paintings of Tolstoy's Yasnaya Polyana estate - the cradle of many of the writer's classics and where he lived for over 60 years - the family tree of the nobility, paintings of his grandparents and photos of the extended family that include the faces of many famous figures in Russia such as Anton Chekhov and Gorky.

According to Wang Shu, curator of the exhibition, many characters in his masterpiece War and Peace were based on people in his own family.

What's more, the hat, scarf and gloves that Tolstoy wore when he left home at 82 and died in a small train station are also among the items exhibited.

A literature giant

Tolstoy is most known in China for his War and Peace and Anna Karenina, but this exhibition shows that in Russia, he became a renowned literary figure in his country long before the birth of these two classics.

The most important part of the exhibition, the literature section, demonstrates the achievements in literature Tolstoy earned throughout his life. He rose to fame with his novels written about the Crimean War (1853-56). During the war, Tolstoy took part in a battle later named Sevastopol. He later wrote a book of the same name based on his experiences, through which Tolstoy established his status as a literary master in Russia.

Later he wrote the world famous War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Equivalent to their importance, the exhibition uses four walls to exhibit important materials about the two works, including Tolstoy's manuscripts for the two novels - their first time exhibited outside of Russia, draft sketches for illustrations in the two classics and portraits of key characters.

Besides Tolstoy's literature achievements, other famed Russian writers of the same period are also introduced in the exhibition. Representative works by 12 Russian writers are on display, including works by Gogol, Anton Chekhov and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

"We want to show that the 19th century was a golden time for literature in Russia. This fertile literary land produced not only Tolstoy, but also many other world-class writers," said Wang.

Besides demonstrating Tolstoy's literary accomplishments, the exhibition also uses a special section that delves into Tolstoy's explorations beyond the world of literature, such as his sympathy for ordinary farmers and the struggle in his heart when his ideal of equality and universal fraternity contrasted with reality, a struggle which eventually led him to leave his affluent home.

After finishing Anna Karenina, Tolstoy faced a crisis that coincided with the social contradictions within Russia at the time.

"His social image underwent a big change during this period of time, from a writer to a thinker and finally a prophet," explained Wang.

Major works that Tolstoy created during this period and show these changes, including Resurrection and A Confession, are exhibited in this section.

A friend to China

While Tolstoy is a household name in China, few know what he thought about China while he was alive. Fortunately people can get a glimpse of this in the section about China.

The writer's dialogue with China started with two letters from China, one from a student named Zhang Qingtong who studied in St. Petersburg in 1905 and one from Chinese scholar and writer Gu Hongming the next year. The exhibition displays Tolstoy's reply to Gu, titled "A Letter to Chinese People."

"I think that a great revolution is taking place in our time in the life of humanity and that in this revolution, China, at the head of the Eastern nations, must play a grand part," Tolstoy wrote in the letter.

"Disappointed in the West, he had some hope for a remote China in the East," Wang explained.

Before the letters, Tolstoy's interest in Chinese culture can be seen in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) vase that sat on his desk, but also by the copy of Lao-Tze's Dao De Jing, which he read and even translated parts into Russian.

Tolstoy's reflections on history, social systems and the spiritual world also exerted profound influence on Chinese intellectuals in the 20th century. His Resurrection has been adapted into stage plays several times in China.

Tolstoy and His Times is scheduled to run until December 22 and has been co-organized by the Museum-estate of Leo Tolstoy "Yasnaya Polyana" and the State Museum of Leo Tolstoy in Russia.