Gu Cheng

Gu Cheng
A book that explores the controversy of Gu Cheng's death, with a torn portrait of him on the cover A book that explores the controversy of Gu Cheng's death, with a torn portrait of him on the cover
Occupation	poet, essayist, novelist
Nationality	New Zealand (formerly China)
Literary movement	Misty Poets, modernism

Gu Cheng (顾城，1956-1993) 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

Gu Cheng began life in privilege as the son of a prominent party member. His father was the army poet Gu Gong. At the age of twelve, his family was sent down to rural Shandong because of the Cultural Revolution(as means of re-education) where they bred pigs. There, he claimed to have learned poetry directly from nature.

In the late 1970s, Cheng became associated with the journal "Today" (Jintian) which began a movement in poetry known as "menglong" meaning "hazy, "obscure". He became an international celebrity and travelled around the world accompanied by his wife, Xie Ye. The two settled in Auckland, New Zealand in 1987 where Cheng taught Chinese at the University of Auckland.

In October 1993, Gu Cheng attacked his wife before hanging himself. She died later in a hospital.

Trivia

Gu Cheng often wore a leg cut off from a pair of jeans as a hat.

Quote

"Dark nights gave me these dark eyes, but I shall use them to seek the light."

Further Reading

• Chinese Writers on Writing featuring Gu Cheng. Ed. Arthur Sze. (Trinity University Press, 2010).

External links

• Dead in Exile: The Life and Death of Gu Cheng and Xie Ye by Anne-Marie Brady. A personal account and review of several books about Gu Cheng and Xie Ye's last days.
• Gu Cheng's Fortress official website by a small group of people who studied Gu Chen's work.

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