Character from remembrance-of-earths-past by
Theoretical physicist at Tsinghua, Ye Wenjie's father — the man whose death by Red Guards' belt-buckles in front of his daughter is the original wound from which all three books bleed.
Ye Zhetai chose to die rather than recant the truth of relativity, the Big Bang, and quantum mechanics in front of his family. He answered the four girl Red Guards' demands with the calm courtesy of a teacher correcting a homework assignment. His martyrdom is the moment his daughter loses her faith in the species, and the moment that, decades later, the species loses its planet.
Mid-fifties at his death, slight, scholarly, in a stained gray Mao suit with a torn collar. Round wire glasses, broken in one lens. White hair receding from a high forehead. He stands very straight on the Tsinghua University struggle-session stage, hands tied behind him, refusing to bow.
Also known as: Professor Ye, 叶哲泰