Bei Dao Influences

In a nation where free speech is prohibited, speaking freely can get you into a lot of trouble. Zhao Zenkai, more commonly known as Bei Dao, is a renowned Chinese poet, who lived in China during its conversion to communism. Living during and experiencing the Cultural Revolution, which was a series of political and cultural reforms in China, heavily influenced his writing. He was a member of the Misty Poets, a group of poets in communist China that used abstract metaphors in their poems to speak out against what their nation was doing. China would often censor or ban their work in an attempt to suppress their influence on the common people of China. Finally, in 1989, following the massacre at Tiananmen Square, Bei Dao was exiled from China. However, this did not stop his poetic desire. Throughout his career, Bei Dao’s poetry was impacted by his life experiences. Bei Dao would commonly write poetry from a political perspective, touching on topics such as the negative effects of the Cultural Revolution, politically charged events such as the massacre at Tiananmen Square, and communism as a whole. He would also often write from a personal perspective towards what was going on around him..

When Bei Dao was born in 1949, China was on the brink of converting to communism.

Growing up, he supported his country. After the Cultural Revolution cut his education short, he even went so far as to join the Red Guards. The Red Guards were a group of youths in China who supported the government and used intimidation to scare any who opposed the new communist ideals. During his time in the Red Guards, however, he began to question China and communism as a whole. After deliberating the topic, he left the organization and, as a result, was sent to be a construction worker for ‘re-education’ (“Dao Bei - Biography in Context”). During these lonesome days was where his poetry career

began.
In his first poetry collection, titled Waves, which was written while at re-education, he tells about the negative effects of the Cultural Revolution. He told stories of families torn apart by the reforms being made in China. He showed that the revolution was not just political; it also affected many people personally, changing their education, work, and lives as a whole. In the poem “The Homecoming Stranger”, a father returns to his family after spending years in a reform camp. In “In the Ruins”, he tells of the struggles people deal with in communist China (“Dao Bei - Biography in Context”). He attacks the revolution politically throughout the collection, demonstrating some of the negative effects it causes through his storytelling. Throughout his first poetry collection, Bei Dao weaves a common theme through his metaphorical writings: suffering, pain, and loss. All at the hands of the Cultural Revolution.
Another influence for his writings were current events, such as the massacre at Tiananmen Square in 1989, where the military, under order of the government, opened fire on a crowd of citizens. During the protest, a large body of Chinese citizens were gathered, protesting many aspects of the government they were unhappy with. In response, China sent in their military to slaughter the harmless protestors. In the end, nearly 10,000 Chinese protesters were lying dead in the square (Cheng). China believed Bei Dao was a major influence to this protest, and as a result they exiled him soon after. He wrote about this event in the poetry collection Old Snow.
Throughout his entire poetry career, he attacked the political practices of China. He always pointed out the negative factors of some of China’s practices, the primary offender being communism. An example of this can be found in “Answer”, known to be one of his most famous poems. In the poem, he states “Look - the gilded sky is swimming / with undulant reflections of the dead.” (Dao 750-751) This quote uses a metaphor to compare communism to a ‘gilded sky’, meaning it is deceptively beautiful. This shows his thoughts towards communism as a whole. He believes, on the surface, communism seems like a good idea. In reality, it never works as intended. Its downsides heavily outweigh its upsides, which Bei Dao emphasizes.
The Cultural Revolution was a political change in the government, but it was just as much a personal change for every citizen. It changed most aspects of life, tore families apart, and resulted in many being separated from who they loved. Bei Dao was no exception. Not much is documented on his personal life, as he preferred solitude over social interaction. However, after he was exiled, he spoke of his personal feelings about it in the poetry collection Forms of Distance. He said he “had a profound sorrow that he was separated from his family and friends back home.” (Davidson) He continued to live out his life in Europe, writing poetry occasionally, and was not allowed back into China until 2006.
Bei Dao was one of the most influential poets during early communist China. His poetry was written in response to events happening around him, and was written to trigger a response from the people around him. He touched on various topics throughout his career, some with a political motive, such as the Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square, and communism, and some more personal topics, such as his exile. With no more than a pen and paper, he was able to bring thousands of people to question the promise of communism. His poetry was deemed so dangerous to the stability of the Chinese government he was exiled from the country, leaving him alone, separated from his home, family, and friends. “In the world I am. Always a stranger. I do not understand its language. It does not understand my silence.” (Dao)