Hai Zi 海子 [real name Zha Haisheng 查海生] 1954-1989

Zha grew up in the Anhui countryside. He was admitted to law school at Peking University at the age of 15, and began teaching philosophy and art theory at the age of 20 in the China University of Political Science and Law. At the same time, he started writing poetry. He is one of the most read modern Chinese poets whose work includes many short poems, poetic plays, and verse dramas. His work is marked by simplicity, imagistic clarity, and contains motifs from rural folklore. Hai Zi was given People’s Literature Award in poetry 人民文學詩歌獎 in 2001, twelve years after he committed suicide.

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