Gu Cheng

Gu Cheng
Gu Cheng
Born	September 24, 1956; Beijing,China
Died	October 8, 1993(aged 37); Ostend,Waiheke Island,Auckland,New Zealand
Occupation	Writer
Language	Mandarin Chinese
Period	Contemporary
Genres	Poetry; novel; essay;
Literary movement	Misty Poets; modernism;

Gu Cheng(simplified Chinese:Cố thành;traditional Chinese:Cố thành;September 24, 1956 – October 8, 1993) was a famousChinesemodern poet, essayist and novelist. He was a prominent member of the "Misty Poets",a group of Chinesemodernistpoets.

Biography

Gu Cheng was born in Beijing on 24 September 1956.^[1]He was the son of a prominent party member and the army poetGu Gong.^[1]At the age of twelve, his family was sent to ruralShandongbecause of theCultural Revolution(as means of re-education) where they bred pigs. There, he claimed to have learned poetry directly from nature.

In the late 1970s, Gu became associated with the journalToday(Jintian) which began a movement in poetry known as "menglong"Mông lung meaning" hazy "," obscure ". He became an international celebrity and travelled around the world accompanied by his wife, Xie Ye. The two settled in Rocky Bay, a small village onWaiheke Island,Auckland,New Zealandin 1987. Gu taught Chinese at theUniversity of Aucklandin the City ofAuckland.

In October 1993, Gu Cheng attacked his wife with an axe before hanging himself.^[2]^[3]She died later on the way to a hospital. The story of his death was widely covered in theChinese media.^[4]

"A Generation"

The two-line poem titled "A Generation" ( "Một thế hệ người" ) was perhaps Gu Cheng's most famous contribution to contemporaryChinese literature.It had been considered an accurate representation of theyounger generationduring the ChineseCultural Revolutionseeking knowledge and future.

(translated by Juan Yuchi)
The darkest night gave me dark-colored eyes
Yet with them I'm seeking light

Đêm tối cho ta màu đen đôi mắt
Ta lại dùng nó tìm kiếm quang minh

Legacy

Gu Cheng's life was dramatised in the 1998 filmThe Poet(Chinese:Cố thành đừng luyến;pinyin:gùchéng bié liàn), which focussed on his recurrentdepressionand the murder of his wife.^[5]

References

^^a ^bAnna Simona Margarito (August 2012)."Reflections of the West in Gu Cheng's Life and Poems"(PDF).Asian and African Studies.XVI(2). Ljubljana.ISSN 1408-5429.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 29 November 2014.Retrieved18 November2014.
^"Chinese Poet, Wife Die in Murder-Suicide: AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) _ Chinese poet Gu Cheng, who left his homeland in 1987, killed his wife before hanging himself from a tree, police said today. His wife, Xie Ye, 35, had been beaten on the head with a tomahawk and was found lying on a path leading to a house. She was taken to a hospital, but died 90 minutes later".9 October 1993 – via apnews.
^"The Sydney Morning Herald, WELLINGTON, Sunday - The exiled Chinese poet Gu Cheng, whose name had been put forward as a possible Nobel Prize contender, hanged himself after killing his estranged wife with an axe in New Zealand, police said today. Gu Cheng, 37, killed his wife, Xie Ye, 35, on Friday outside a house on the picturesque Waiheke Island - near Auckland - where she had been staying, Detective -Inspector George Wood said. The poet was found hanged from a tree".11 October 1993 – via groups.google.
^"A voice for China's bottom rung".11 November 2011 – via nzherald.co.nz.
^"Cố thành đừng luyến cố thành đừng luyến (1998)"[The Poet/The Poet (1998)].Douban(in Chinese).Retrieved31 July2017.

External links

Dead in Exile: The Life and Death of Gu Cheng and Xie YebyAnne-Marie Brady.A personal account and review of several books about Gu Cheng and Xie Ye's last days.
Gu Cheng's Fortressofficial website by a small group of people who studied Gu Cheng's work.
[1]Prólogo al libro Cuatro Poetas Suicidas Chinos (Cinosargo 2013- Trad. Wilfredo Carrizales)
[2]Crítica de Leonardo Sanhueza al libro Cuatro Poetas Suicidas Chinos (Cinosargo 2013)
[3]Crítica de Alberto Hernández al libro Cuatro Poetas Suicidas Chinos (Cinosargo 2013) en Letralia

[gu-1] Anna Simona Margarito (August 2012)."Reflections of the West in Gu Cheng's Life and Poems"(PDF).Asian and African Studies.XVI(2). Ljubljana.ISSN 1408-5429.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 29 November 2014.Retrieved18 November2014.

[2] "Chinese Poet, Wife Die in Murder-Suicide: AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) _ Chinese poet Gu Cheng, who left his homeland in 1987, killed his wife before hanging himself from a tree, police said today. His wife, Xie Ye, 35, had been beaten on the head with a tomahawk and was found lying on a path leading to a house. She was taken to a hospital, but died 90 minutes later".9 October 1993 – via apnews.

[3] "The Sydney Morning Herald, WELLINGTON, Sunday - The exiled Chinese poet Gu Cheng, whose name had been put forward as a possible Nobel Prize contender, hanged himself after killing his estranged wife with an axe in New Zealand, police said today. Gu Cheng, 37, killed his wife, Xie Ye, 35, on Friday outside a house on the picturesque Waiheke Island - near Auckland - where she had been staying, Detective -Inspector George Wood said. The poet was found hanged from a tree".11 October 1993 – via groups.google.

[4] "A voice for China's bottom rung".11 November 2011 – via nzherald.co.nz.

[5] "Cố thành đừng luyến cố thành đừng luyến (1998)"[The Poet/The Poet (1998)].Douban(in Chinese).Retrieved31 July2017.

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