Hai Zi
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Hai Zi (; March 24, 1964 – March 26, 1989) is the pen name of the Chinese poet Zha Haisheng (). He was one of the most famous poets in Mainland China after the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
. He died on the evening of March 26, 1989 by suicide, lying in front of a train in Shanhaiguan at the age of 25.


Biography

Zha Haisheng was born in an agricultural family of Zhawan,a small village in
Anhui Province Anhui is an inland province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiangxi to the south, Hub ...
. He spent his childhood in traditional Chinese rural areas when the whole country was involved in the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
. In 1979, he was enrolled in
Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...
at the age of 15. He began to write poems as a student in early 1980s, building a strong friendship with the two poets
Xi Chuan Xi Chuan ( Chinese: 西川; born 1963), pen name of Liu Jun ( Chinese: 刘军), is a poet, essayist, and translator. He is considered one of the most influential and celebrated contemporary Chinese poets. His poems have been said to "carry a s ...
and Luo Yihe. After graduation, he worked in
China University of Political Science and Law The China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL; ; pinyin: Zhōng Guó Zhèng Fǎ Dà Xué), also translated as Zhengfa University, is a national public university in Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education and co- ...
. He kept sending his own poems written in an extremely dull environment of life to different newspapers and publishers but was hardly accepted. He remained unknown to common readers until his death. Hai Zi was fascinated with
Tibetan culture Tibet developed a distinct culture due to its geographic and climatic conditions. While influenced by neighboring cultures from China, India, and Nepal, the Himalayas, Himalayan region's remoteness and inaccessibility have preserved distinct ...
and
Qigong Qigong ()) is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation said to be useful for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training. With roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese medicine, Chin ...
in his last years. He ended his life by lying in front of a train not far from Shanhaiguan near his 25th birthday. A bag with a
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
, a book of selected stories by
Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...
, ''
Walden ''Walden'' (; first published as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is an 1854 book by American transcendentalism, transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. T ...
'' by Henry David Thoreau, and ''
The Kon-Tiki Expedition ''The Kon-Tiki Expedition: By Raft Across the South Seas'' () is a 1948 book by the Norwegian writer Thor Heyerdahl. It recounts Heyerdahl's experiences with the ''Kon-Tiki'' expedition, where he travelled across the Pacific Ocean The P ...
'' by
Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and Ethnography, ethnographer with a background in biology with specialization in zoology, botany and geography. Heyerdahl is notable for his Kon-Tiki expediti ...
was found beside his body. His death is now regarded as an important event in modern Chinese literature with some suggesting it symbolizes "the sacrifice of the agricultural civilization". Not long after his death, most of his works were published by major publishers of China and were spread rapidly over the country.


Legacy

Hai Zi has become one of the most quoted poets after the
New Culture Movement The New Culture Movement was a progressivism, progressive sociopolitical movement in China during the 1910s and 1920s. Participants criticized many aspects of traditional Chinese society, in favor of new formulations of Chinese culture inform ...
. His mystical life and death remain an important topic of Chinese literature and society. A cult of Hai Zi involves young people from all over China since the 1990s, though he is still not entirely accepted by older experts. Hai Zi's poems have a strong influence on the popular culture in Mainland China. Some of his poems have been set to songs. Hai Zi's poem ''Facing the Sea, with Spring Blossoms'' is inferred and mentioned several times in the Hong Kong movie '' McDull, Prince de la Bun''. Many coastal places of China are regarded as the one described in the poem ''Facing the Sea, with Spring Blossoms''. But according to some research about the life of the poet, the beach of Xichong in
Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...
is the most probable place.


Works

Hai Zi wrote several long poems, "choral operas" and countless short poems in his brief life. His style is generally described as "anachronism". Many of his short poems contain symbolic images like ''Land'', ''Sea'' and ''Wheat field'' and recall the ideals of the ancient Chinese
pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...
poet
Tao Yuanming Tao Yuanming (365–427), also known as Tao Qian, courtesy name Yuanliang (元亮), was a Chinese poet and politician. He was one of the best-known poets who lived during the Six Dynasties period. Tao Yuanming spent much of his life in reclusi ...
. The theme of nostalgia for the village life of his childhood, love for nature makes Hai Zi related to the Russian well-known poet
Sergei Yesenin Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin (, ; 1895 – 28 December 1925), sometimes spelled as Esenin, was a Russian lyric poet. He is one of the most popular and well-known Russian poets of the 20th century. One of his narratives was "lyrical evocations ...
. Hai Zi himself wrote a cycle of poems "''Poet Yesenin''", in which he directly calls himself "Chinese Yesenin" as the reincarnation-like, which has become a popular cliché in works devoted to the personality of the poet. Hai Zi was also obviously influenced by Western philosophy and arts, especially
Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche became the youngest pro ...
and
Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...
. And the strong sense of
mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...
in all of his works is probably one of the most important characteristics which turned him into a unique figure of Chinese literature. Some of his poems have been translated into English. A bilingual book of his poems ''Over Autumn Rooftops'', translated by Dan Murphy, was published in 2010 by Host Publications. A new bilingual book, ''Ripened Wheat: Selected Poems of Hai Zi'', translated by Ye Chun, was out from the Bitter Oleander Press in 2015. In Italy, Del Vecchio Editore celebrated the 30th anniversary of Haizi’s death publishing, for the first time in Italian, a selection of 80 poems (“Un uomo felice“, 2019) translated by Francesco De Luca. In 2025, Delufa Press published ''The Three from the University of Peking: Haizi, Luo Yihe, and Xi Chuan'', a celebratory publication that brings together the three poets for the first time.


Short poems

Hai Zi's short poems are his most popular works. Some of them are now classics of 20th-century Chinese literature and are quoted frequently. *''Asian Copper (《亚洲铜》)'' *''The Sun of Arles (《阿尔的太阳》)'' *''The Four Sisters (《四姐妹》)'' *''To the Night (《黑夜的献诗》)'' *''Facing the Sea, with Spring Blossoms (《面朝大海,春暖花开》)'' *''Motherland, or Dream as a Horse (《祖国,或以梦为马》)'' *''Spring, Ten Hai Zis (《春天,十个海子》)''


Long poems and other works

*''Legend (《传说》)'' *''The River (《河流》)'' *''But Water, Water (《但是水、水》)'' *''Messiah (《弥赛亚》)'' *''Six Mysterious Stories (《神秘故事六篇》)''


Selected Poems in translation


"Mute Back"
tr. Ye Chun
"Dunhuang"

"Poetry Book"

"Song: Light Strikes the Ground"

"Wind Cup: A Bouquet of Love Poems"

"Thinking of a Past Life"


Further reading

*
'Six poems''
by Hai Zi (trans. by Ye Chun) * ''Chinese Writers on Writing'' featuring Hai Zi. Ed. Arthur Sze. (
Trinity University Press Trinity University Press is a university press affiliated with Trinity University, which is located in San Antonio, Texas. Trinity University Press was officially founded in 1967 after the university acquired the Illinois-based Principia Press. T ...
, 2010)
''Over Autumn Rooftops''
(A bilingual edition of Hai Zi's poetry published by Host Publications) *
Ripened Wheat: Selected Poems of Hai Zi
' translated by Ye Chun (The Bitter Oleander Press, 2015) *
Un uomo felice
' translated by Francesco De Luca
Del Vecchio Editore
2019) Italian-Chinese edition * Yang, Xiaoli. ''A Dialogue between Haizi’s Poetry and the
Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascension of ...
: Chinese Homecoming and the Relationship with Jesus Christ.'' Brill, 2018. *
I tre dell'università di Pechino: Hai Zi, Luo Yihe e Xi Chuan
' translated by Francesco De Luca
Delufa Press
2025) Italian-Chinese edition


See also

*
Chinese poetry Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language, and a part of the Chinese literature. While this last term comprises Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, and other historical and vernac ...
*
Misty Poets The Misty Poets () are a group of 20th-century Chinese poets who reacted against the restrictions on art during the Cultural Revolution. They are so named because their work has been officially denounced as "obscure", "misty", or "hazy" poetry (' ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hai, Zi 1964 births 1989 suicides 1989 deaths 20th-century Chinese poets Mystic poets Misty poets Poets from Anhui Chinese magazine editors Peking University alumni Suicides by train Suicides in the People's Republic of China People from Huaining County