Bei Dao (traditional Chinese: 北島; simplified Chinese: 北岛; pinyin: Běi Dǎo; literally "Northern Island", born August 2, 1949) is the pseudonym of Chinese poet Zhao Zhenkai (趙振開). He was born in Beijing, 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, a group of Chinese poets who reacted against the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution. Traditional Chinese characters refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Simplified Chinese character (Simplified Chinese: or ; traditional Chinese: or ; pinyin: or ) is one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of the contemporary Chinese written language. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... is the 214th day of the year (215th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Poets who wrote or write much of their poetry in the Chinese language. ... Peking redirects here. ... The Misty Poets are a group of Chinese poets who reacted against the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution. ... Poets who wrote or write much of their poetry in the Chinese language. ... The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution [1] in the Peoples Republic of China was a struggle for power within the Communist Party of China that manifested into wide-scale social, political, and economic chaos, which grew to include large sections of Chinese society and eventually brought the entire country to...

As a teenager, Bei Dao was a member of the Red Guards, the enthusiastic followers of Mao Zedong 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 the next eleven years. Cover of the Little Red Book containing the doctrines of the Red Guards In the Peoples Republic of China, Red Guards (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people, who were mobilized by Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution, between... Mao redirects here. ...

Bei Dao and Mang Ke 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 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. During the 1989 protests and subsequent shootings, Bei Dao was at a literary conference in Berlin and was not allowed to return to China^[1]. (Three other leading Misty Poets, Gu Cheng, Duo Duo, and Yang Lian, were also exiled). His then wife, Shao Fei, and their daughter were not allowed to leave China to join him for another six years. Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the protest in 1976. ... The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, commonly referred to as the Tiananmen Square Massacre,[1] were a series of demonstrations led by students, intellectuals, and labor activists in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) between April 15 and June 4, 1989. ... This article is about the capital of Germany. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Yang Lian (杨炼) is a Chinese poet associated with the Misty Poets (朦胧诗) and also with the Searching for Roots school. ...

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 ^[2] 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.

He has won numerous awards, including Tucholsky Prize from Swedish PEN, International Poetry Argana Award from the House of Poetry in Morocco and the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. He is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Jintian was resurrected in Stockholm in 1990 as a forum for expatriate Chinese writers. He has taught and lectured at a number of schools, most recently the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, as well as the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and Beloit College in Wisconsin. He has been repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. 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. ... American Academy of Arts and Letters is an organization whose goal is to foster, assist, and sustain an interest in American literature, music, and art. ... For other uses, see Stockholm (disambiguation). ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... The University of Notre Dame IPA: is a Catholic[4] institution located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated section of St. ... For other uses, see Indiana (disambiguation). ... The University of Alabama (also known as Alabama, UA or colloquially as Bama) is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. Founded in 1831, UA is the flagship campus of the University of Alabama System. ... Tuscaloosa is a city in west central Alabama in the southern United States. ... Beloit College is a liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin and a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. ... Official language(s) None Capital Madison Largest city Milwaukee Largest metro area Greater Milwaukee Area  Ranked 23rd  - Total 65,498 sq mi (169,790 km²)  - Width 260 miles (420 km)  - Length 310 miles (500 km)  - % water 17  - Latitude 42° 30′ N to 47° 05′ N  - Longitude 86° 46′ W to... Nobel Prize in Literature medal. ...

Works

Poetry

• The August Sleepwalker Trans. Bonnie S. McDougall (New Directions, 1990)
• Old Snow Trans. Bonnie S. McDougall & Chen Maiping (New Directions, 1991)
• Forms of Distance. Trans. David Hinton (New Directions, 1994) ISBN 0-8112-1266-1
• Landscape Over Zero. Trans. David Hinton & Yanbing Chen (1996)
• Unlock. Trans. Eliot Weinberger & Iona Man-Cheong (New Directions, 2000) ISBN 0-8112-1447-8
• At the Sky's Edge: Poems 1991-1996. (New Directions, 2001) ISBN 0-8112-1495-8
• Midnight's Gate. Trans. Matthew Fryslie, ed. Christopher Mattison (New Directions, 2005) ISBN 0-8112-1584-9

Short stories Chen Maiping (traditional Chinese: ; simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: Chén Màipíng; Wade-Giles: Chen Maiping, born November 4, 1952 in Changshu, Jiangsu) is a Chinese writer, known by the pen name Wan Zhi (万之). He has written mostly short stories, and has also translated literature from English... Eliot Weinberger (b. ...

• Waves. Trans. Bonnie S. McDougall & Susette Ternent Cooke (New Directions, 1990)

Notes

1. ^ In 2006 Bei Dao was allowed to live and work in China once more
2. ^ Unlock (2000), Landscape Over Zero (1996), Forms of Distance (1994), Old Snow(1992), The August Sleepwalker (1990)

All-translated by Donald Finkel and Xueliang Chen

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Bei Dao

• Thirteen poems by Bei Dao at jacketmagazine.com
• Five poems also with German and Spanish translations

• Interview with Visiting Artist Bei Dao by Siobhan LaPiana
• Jintian (in Chinese)