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NotesfromtheCityoftheSunLecture14.docx
Notes from the City of the Sun
Bei Dao (China)
Pronounce: https://www.howtopronounce.com/bei-dao/
The name Bei Dao, chosen by the distinguished Chinese poet, Zhao Zhenkai, literally means Northern Island and reflects his desire for solitude. His works have been translated into 30 languages because of his subtlety, innovation, and eloquence.
Government officials exiled him because it was felt that his work influenced protests leading to the Tiananmen Square massacre. He returned to China in 2006 after lecturing at prestigious schools no doubt because of his international acclaim.
A significant portion of his works focus on freedom and exile. Poet Michael Palmer says of Dao that he “abjures overt political rhetoric while simultaneously keeping faith with his passionate belief in social reform and freedom of the creative imagination.”
He was born in Beijing, an ancient city. 15 Moments in History That Shaped Beijing https://theculturetrip.com/asia/china/articles/15-moments-in-history-that-shaped-beijing/
The flag of China was officially adopted on October 1, 1949.
The red of the Chinese flag symbolizes the communist revolution, and it's also the traditional color of the people. The large gold star represents communism, while the four smaller stars represent the social classes of the people. In addition, the five stars together reflect the importance placed on the number five in Chinese thought and history.
https://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/flags/countrys/asia/china.htm
Notes from the City of the Sun
Bei Dao is strongly impacted by both Chinese political changes as well as individualized thinking.
Notes’ series of abstractions are followed by striking visual images. Many of the images are rather obvious illustrations of some aspect of the abstraction. Examples:
· Labor uses a common image of “a pair of hands, encircling the earth.”
· People are shown in an original image of the moon “torn into gleaming grains of wheat and sown into the sky and earth.”
· Note the extended metaphor of the shattered mirror.
· There are more obvious images of political themes shown indirectly.
Examine how certain words in the last five stanzas (e.g., “at random,” “monotonous,” “cripple,”) function as a criticism of the political structure of the “motherland.”
China’s Cultural Revolution purged intellectuals and government protestors. This was a period when high school and college students, known as the Red Guard, waved Mao Tse Tung’s red-covered book of aphorisms.
Communist China’s vison of art is as a socialist tool that mirrors the masses.
Interview 2015
https://poetry.arizona.edu/blog/interview-bei-dao
The Reading Life: A Chinese Writer’s Poetics, and Politics 2010
