Tang Danhong (; born November 1965) is a

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

from mainland

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and living in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

since 2005. Her work has highlighted the lives of the many ethnic minorities in China, including the

Tibetans Tibetans () are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 7.7 million. In addition to the majority living in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans live in t ...

and

Uyghurs The Uyghurs,. alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central Asia and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as the ti ...

Early life and education

Tang Danhong was born in

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

. She graduated from the Library and Information Department of

Sichuan University Sichuan University (SCU) is a public university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The university is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. I ...

in 1986, and worked in the library of the West China University of Medical Sciences for four years. From 1991 to 1992 she worked in a gallery in Chengdu.

Career

Writing

In early 1994, Tang opened the Kafka Bookstore in the old city of Chengdu in Renhou Street. This literary bookstore was popular with visitors to the city. Around 1999, the bookstore closed and Tang disappeared from the Chengdu cultural scene, resurfacing in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

several years later. A collection of poems she wrote in China during this period (1992–2002) were published in 2012 as ''X-ray, Sweet Night'' () in 2012. Tang's writing has frequently appeared

China Digital Times ''China Digital Times'' (CDT; ) is a California-based 501(c)(3) organization that runs a bilingual news website covering China. The site focuses on news items which are blocked, deleted or suppressed by China's state censors. History The websit ...

. In 2008, she published an essay about her feeling as a

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

person about Tibet. In 2010 she traveled to India to collect oral histories from elderly Tibetan exiles. In 2019 she interviewed Nimrod Baranovitch of the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...

about detained Uyghur poet Ablet Abdurishit Berqi.

Film

Tang was the director of Chengdu Vientiane Documentary Film Production Company. Her first

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

''Tsurphu Monastery'' () was filmed in February 1998. Her major works include ''Dzachuka'' (), ''Nyma the Conqueror'' (), ''At the Gate of Reincarnation-Tibetan Funeral Customs'' (), ''Top Adventure-98 Yarlung Zangbo River Rafting Adventure'' (), ''Nightingale, Not the Only Voice'' (, 2000).''Nightingale'' follows the lives of three artists in

and conveys their feelings of oppression in the modern market economy.

Personal life

Tang divorced in 2001. She later met an Israeli man studying Chinese medicine. They married and moved to Israel in late 2005. There, Tang taught

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

Views on Tibet

When discussing the Chinese Communist Party's repression against

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

, Tang argued that it would only push more Tibetans to advocate for autonomy and even independence from the central government. "Tibet is disappearing. The spirit which makes her beautiful and peaceful is disappearing. She is becoming us, becoming what she does not want to become. What other choice does she have when facing the anxiety of being alienated? To hold onto her tradition and culture, and revive her ancient civilization? Or to commit suicidal acts which will only add to Han nationalists’ bloody, shameful glory?"

External links

* * * , Tang Danhong's blog

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tang, Danhong Living people 1965 births Chinese film directors Chinese women film directors Writers from Chengdu Chinese women poets 20th-century Chinese women writers 21st-century Chinese women writers 20th-century Chinese poets 21st-century Chinese poets Chinese expatriates in Israel Academic staff of Tel Aviv University