Bei Dao

Bei Dao is the nom de plume of Zhao Zhenkai, widely considered one of China’s most important contemporary authors. His poems have been translated into more than 30 languages. In English he is represented by numerous collections of poetry, fiction, and essays, including The Rose of Time: New and Selected Poems (2010), Midnight’s Gate (2002), Unlock (2000), Landscape over Zero (1995), Old Snow (1991), The August Sleepwalker (1990), and Waves (1985), which have been internationally acclaimed for their subtlety, innovation, and eloquence. In China in the 1970s and ’80s, he was a leading member of the loosely associated avant-garde movement Ménglóng Shi Rén, or “Misty Poets,” so-called for the abstract language and obscure meaning in their poems. Much of his early work, as well as that of other “Misty” poets, appeared in the influential underground journal that he co-founded in 1978, Jintian (Today). The journal was banned after two years of publication, and in 1989 Dao was exiled from China for his perceived influence on the protests that led up to the Tiananmen Square massacre. (Biography sourced from Poetry Foundation)

Bei Dao appears in the following publications: