Gu Cheng

Infobox Writer
name = Gu Cheng


imagesize = 140px
caption = A book that explores the controversy of Gu Cheng's death, with a torn portrait of him on the cover
pseudonym =
birthdate = birth date|1956|9|24|mf=y
birthplace = Beijing, China
deathdate = death date and age|1993|10|8|1956|9|24|mf=y
deathplace = Auckland, New Zealand
occupation = poet, essayist, novelist
nationality = New Zealander (formerly Chinese)
period =
genre =
subject =
movement = Misty Poets, modernism
influences =
influenced =


website =

Gu Cheng (顾城，1956-1993) was a famous Chinese modern poet, essayist, and novelist. He was a prominent member of the "Misty Poets", a group of Chinese modernist poets.

Biography

Gu Cheng began life in privilege as the son of a prominent party member. His father was the army poet Gu Gong. At the age of twelve, his family was sent down to rural Shandong because of the Cultural Revolution(as means of re-education) where they bred pigs. There, he claimed to have learned poetry directly from nature.

In the late 1970s, Cheng became associated with the journal "Today" ("Jintian") which began a movement in poetry known as "menglong" meaning "hazy, "obscure". He became an international celebrity and travelled around the world accompanied by his wife, Xie Ye. The two settled in Auckland, New Zealand in 1987 where Cheng taught Chinese at the University of Auckland.

In October 1993, Gu Cheng attacked his wife with an axe before hanging himself. She died later in a hospital.

Trivia

Gu Cheng often wore a leg cut off from a pair of jeans as a hat.
At the age of three, he invented his own language, but no one understood him.

Quote

"Dark nights gave me these dark eyes, but I shall use them to seek the light."

External links

* [http://www.posc.canterbury.ac.nz/documents/brady_qiu1.pdf Dead in Exile: The Life and Death of Gu Cheng and Xie Ye] by Anne-Marie Brady. A personal account and review of several books about Gu Cheng and Xie Ye's last days.
* [http://www.gucheng.net Gu Cheng's Fortress] Official website by Gu Cheng's sister, Gu Xiang.

Persondata
NAME=Gu, Cheng
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Chinese poet
DATE OF BIRTH=September 24, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH=Beijing, China
DATE OF DEATH=October 8, 1993
PLACE OF DEATH=Auckland, New Zealand