Fandom nonsense: wuxia, xianxia, danmei, baihe, Kinnporsche. Also languages, writing, history, orchids. Yi Citizen. In my 30s.
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katzenfabrik/pseuds/villainousfriend


I've come upon references to this poem twice recently: firstly in an episode of the Chinese Literature Podcast, and secondly when Xueting C. Ni tweeted about it.

Even to a completely naïve reader, I think the poem is intriguing and attention-grabbing, with its monumental images and ambiguous air of resistance. The Chinese Literature Podcast gave a helpful summary of the cultural/political background to the Misty Poets movement, before analysing the piece itself and discussing the characteristics of the Misty Poets' work. (I really wish their episodes had transcripts! The episode is under 20 minutes long, however, so if you like podcasts as a format, it's a quick one to listen to.)

Xueting gave me the extra context that the poem "is very famous and has been used in every other protest since it was written," plus a video of Li Zhi reciting it accompanied by rock musicians and an orchestra:

Here is another poem by Bei Dao, from the collection The August Sleepwalker, translated by Bonnie S. McDougall: An End or a Beginning.


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