Bei Dao
Encyclopedia
- Bei Dao is another name for Zhifu IslandZhifu IslandZhifu Island or North Island , is an islet with historical significance in Shandong Province, China. The name of the islet Chefoo was generalized to mean the entire Yantai region in older western literature.* Area: 11.5 km²* Coast line: 22.5 km...
.
Bei Dao is the pseudonym of Chinese poet Zhao Zhenkai (S: 赵振开, T: 趙振開, P: Zhào Zhènkāi). He was born in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, his pseudonym was chosen because he came from the north and because of his preference for solitude. Bei Dao is the most notable representative of the Misty Poets
Misty Poets
The Misty Poets are a group of 20th century Chinese poets who reacted against the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution.They are so named because their work has been officially denounced as "obscure", "misty", or "hazy" poetry...
, a group of Chinese poets who reacted against the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
.
Life
As a teenager, Bei Dao was a member of the Red GuardsRed Guards (China)
Red Guards were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people in the People's Republic of China , who were mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967, during the Cultural Revolution.-Origins:...
, the enthusiastic followers of Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
who enforced the dictates of the Cultural Revolution, often through violent means. He had misgivings about the Revolution and was "re-educated" as a construction worker, from 1969 to 1980. Bei Dao and Mang Ke
Mang Ke
Mang Ke , born in 1951, is a prominent Chinese poet and co-founder of the underground literary journal Today, which appeared irregularly between 1978 and 1980 before being shut down by the Chinese Government....
founded the magazine Jintian (Today); the central publication of the Misty Poets which was published from 1978 until 1980, when it was banned. The work of the Misty Poets and Bei Dao in particular were an inspiration to pro-democracy movements in China. Most notable was his poem "Huida" ("The Answer") which was written during the 1976 Tiananmen demonstrations
Tiananmen Incident
The Tiananmen Incident took place on April 5, 1976 at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. The incident occurred on the traditional day of mourning, the Qingming Festival, after the Nanjing Incident, and was triggered by the death of Premier Zhou Enlai earlier that year...
in which he participated. The poem was taken up as a defiant anthem of the pro-democracy movement and appeared on posters during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
. During the 1989 protests and subsequent shootings, Bei Dao was at a literary conference in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and was not allowed to return to China. (Three other leading Misty Poets, Gu Cheng
Gu Cheng
Gu Cheng was a famous Chinese modern poet, essayist, and novelist. He was a prominent member of the "Misty Poets", a group of Chinese modernist poets.-Biography:...
, Duo Duo
Duo duo
Duo Duo or Duoduo is the pen name of contemporary Chinese poet, Li Shizheng , a prominent exponent of the "Misty" or "Obscure" school of modern Chinese poetry .-Biography:...
, and Yang Lian
Yang Lian
Yang Lian is a Chinese poet associated with the Misty Poets and also with the Searching for Roots school. He was born in Bern, Switzerland in 1955 and raised in Beijing, where he attended primary school....
, were also exiled). His then wife, Shao Fei, and their daughter were not allowed to leave China to join him for another six years.
Since 1987, Bei Dao has lived and taught in England, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, France, and the United States. His work has been translated into twenty-five languages, including five poetry volumes in English along with the collection of stories Waves (1990) and the essay collections Blue House (2000) and Midnight's Gate (2005). Bei Dao continued his work in exile. His work has been included in anthologies such as The Red azalea: Chinese poetry since the Cultural Revolution (1990) and Out of the howling storm: the new Chinese poetry. Bei Dao has won numerous awards, including Tucholsky Prize from Swedish PEN, International Poetry Argana Award from the House of Poetry in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
and the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
The PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award honours writers anywhere in the world who have fought courageously in the face of adversity for the right to freedom of expression....
. He is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Jintian was resurrected in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
in 1990 as a forum for expatriate Chinese writers. He has taught and lectured at the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
in Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
in Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...
, Beloit College
Beloit College
Beloit College is a liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin, USA. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, and has an enrollment of roughly 1,300 undergraduate students. Beloit is the oldest continuously operated college in Wisconsin, and has the oldest building of any college...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, and is currently Professor of Humanities in the Center for East Asian Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Chinese University of Hong Kong is a research-led university in Hong Kong.CUHK is the only tertiary education institution in Hong Kong with Nobel Prize winners on its faculty, including Chen Ning Yang, James Mirrlees, Robert Alexander Mundell and Charles K. Kao...
. He has been repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
.
Poetry collections
- The August Sleepwalker Trans. Bonnie S. McDougall (New Directions, 1990)
- Old Snow Trans. Bonnie S. McDougall & Chen MaipingChen MaipingChen Maiping is a Chinese writer and poet, known by the pen name Wan Zhi . He has written mostly short stories, and has also translated literature from English and Swedish to Chinese....
(New Directions, 1991) - Forms of Distance. Trans. David HintonDavid Hinton-Life:He studied Chinese at Cornell University, and in Taiwan. He lives in East Calais, Vermont.-Awards:* 1997 Academy of American Poets Harold Morton Landon Translation Award* fellowship from the Witter Bynner Foundation...
(New Directions, 1994) ISBN 0-8112-1266-1 - Landscape Over Zero. Trans. David HintonDavid Hinton-Life:He studied Chinese at Cornell University, and in Taiwan. He lives in East Calais, Vermont.-Awards:* 1997 Academy of American Poets Harold Morton Landon Translation Award* fellowship from the Witter Bynner Foundation...
& Yanbing Chen (1996) - At the Sky's Edge: Poems 1991-1996. (New Directions, 2001) ISBN 0-8112-1495-8
Further reading
- Chinese Writers on Writing featuring Bei Dao. Ed. Arthur SzeArthur SzeArthur Sze is a second-generation Chinese American poet.-Background:Sze was educated at the University of California, Berkeley, and is the author of eight books of poetry...
. (Trinity University Press, 2010). - Blue House translated by Ted Huters & Feng-ying Ming. (Zephyr Press,2000).
External links
- Profile at Poets.org
- Profile at Poetry Foundation
- "Travel" by Bei Dao at Guernica MagazineGuernica MagazineGuernica / A Magazine of Art and Politics is a biweekly online site that publishes art and photography, fiction, and poetry, from around the world, along with nonfiction such as letters from abroad, investigative pieces and opinion pieces on international affairs and U.S. domestic policy...
. - Interview with Visiting Artist Bei Dao by Siobhan LaPiana in The Journal
- "Thirteen poems", Jacket 14, July 2001
- "Untitled"; "This Day"; "February"; "We", In Translation, December, 2009
- Profile and links at Stanford Presidential lectures