Gu Cheng

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Gu Cheng ( Chinese  顧城  /  顾城 , Pinyin Gùchéng ; born September 24, 1956 in Beijing , † October 8, 1993 in Auckland ) was a Chinese poet , essayist and novelist. He was a member of the "Transfigured Poets" ( 朦朧詩  /  朦胧诗 , Ménglóng Shī , English Misty Poets  - " Obscure poetry , Menglong poetry, hermetic poetry"), a Chinese group of modern poets .

Life

Gu Cheng's childhood was privileged by his father, Gu Gong , a famous Kuomintang member and army poet. At the age of 12, during the Cultural Revolution , his family was sent to Shandong for re-education , where they raised pigs. Because of this, Gu claims that he learned poetry directly from nature.

In the late 1970s, Gu wrote for the magazine “Heute” ( 今天 , Jīntiān ), from which the literary movement of the “Ménglóng” ( Chinese  朦朧  /  朦朧  - “foggy, transfigured, confused”) comes. He became internationally known through translations and toured Germany and other countries with his wife, the poet Xie Ye. They settled in Auckland , New Zealand , in 1987 , where Gu taught Chinese at the University of Auckland . In 1993, Gu attacked his wife with an ax before hanging himself. She died of her injuries in the hospital.

Miscellaneous

  • Gu often wore a cut-off pant leg as a hat.
  • At the age of three he invented his own language which he did not teach anyone else.

Quote

Dark nights gave me these dark eyes, but I shall use them to seek the light. (The black night gave me these black eyes. But I use them to search for the light.)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gu, Cheng
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 顧城 (traditional Chinese); 顾城 (simplified Chinese); Gùchéng (Pinyin)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chinese poet, essayist and novelist
DATE OF BIRTH September 24, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Beijing , China
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 1993
Place of death Auckland , New Zealand