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 sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

. He committed suicide by lying on the rail in

Shanhaiguan Shanhai Pass or Shanhaiguan () is one of the major passes in the Great Wall of China, being the easternmost stronghold along the Ming Great Wall, and commands the narrowest choke point in the Liaoxi Corridor. It is located in Shanhaiguan Di ...

at the age of 25.

Biography

Zha Haisheng was born in an agricultural family of a small village in

Anhui Province Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

. He spent his childhood in traditional Chinese rural areas when the whole country was involved in the

. In 1979, he was enrolled in

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

at the age of 15. He began to write poems as a student in early 1980s. After graduation, he worked in

China University of Political Science and Law China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 中国政法大学; Traditional Chinese characters, traditional Chinese: 中國政法大學; pinyin: ''Zhōngguó Zhèngfǎ Dàxué'', abbr. � ...

. 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 distinc ...

and

Qigong ''Qigong'' (), ''qi gong'', ''chi kung'', ''chi 'ung'', or ''chi gung'' () is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation used for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial-arts training. With roots in ...

in his last years. He ended his life by lying on the rail not far from

near his 25th birthday. A bag with a

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

, 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 short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in t ...

, ''

Walden ''Walden'' (; first published in 1854 as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is a book by American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part ...

'' by Henry David Thoreau, and ''Kon-Tiki'' by

Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany and geography. Heyerdahl is notable for his ''Kon-Tiki'' expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000&nb ...

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. 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 (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

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 poet

Tao Yuanming Tao Yuanming (; 365–427), also known as Tao Qian (; also T'ao Ch'ien in Wade-Giles), was a Chinese poet and politician who was one of the best-known poets during the Six Dynasties, Six Dynasties period. He was born during the Eastern Jin dyn ...

. Hai Zi was also obviously influenced by Western philosophy and arts, especially

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, Prose poetry, prose poet, cultural critic, Philology, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philo ...

and

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inclu ...

. And the strong sense of

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

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.

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"

References

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