''Jintian'' () is the title of a Chinese literary journal. Founded in 1978, it was the first non-official literary journal in the People's Republic of China since the 1950s. It ran for nine issues until it was censored in 1980. It was revived in 1990.

About

''Jintian'' was created in 1978 by

Mang Ke Mang Ke (芒克, original name ''Jiang Shiwei''), born in 1951, is a prominent Chinese poet and co-founder (with Bei Dao) of the underground literary journal Jintian (''Today''), which appeared irregularly between 1978 and 1980 before being shut ...

Bei Dao Bei Dao (, born August 2, 1949) is the pen name of the Chinese-American writer Zhao Zhenkai (S: 赵振开, T: 趙振開, P: ''Zhào Zhènkāi''). Among the most acclaimed Chinese-language poets of his generation, he is often regarded as a candida ...

and others, and was first distributed on and around Democracy Wall in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. It was instrumental in bringing the Misty Poets into the open, publishing work by

, Duo Duo,

Shu Ting Shu Ting (; born 1952 in Jinjiang, Fujian) is the pen name of Gong Peiyu (), a modern Chinese poet associated with the Misty Poets. She began writing poetry in the 1970's and later had her works published. Life Shu Ting grew up in Jinjiang, Fuji ...

, Yang Lian and others. It ran for nine issues and published four books (poetry by Mang Ke, Bei Dao, and Jiang He, and a novella by Ai Shan en-name of Bei Dao. It also ran two poetry readings (on 8 April and 21 October 1979), and two exhibitions of The Stars, the first non-official painters. In 1990 ''Jintian'' was revived overseas, with Bei Dao as editor, and initially published from ''Stockholm''. It is now an online journal, featuring writing in Chinese.

Translations into English

Some of the poems, short stories and essays first published in ''Jintian'' have been translated into English, notably in the series Chinese Writing Today, the first two volumes published by the

Wellsweep Press The Wellsweep Press was a UK-based independent publishing house, specialising in the publication of literary translation from Chinese. It was founded by poet and literary translator John Cayley in the 1980s, and published books from 1988 through th ...

, in the UK, and the third volume published by the Zephyr Press in the USA. The Jintian Series of Contemporary Literature is published by Zephyr Press, in the USA. Chinese Writing Today * ''Under Sky Under Ground. Chinese Writing Today 1'', ed. by Henry Y.H. Zhao and John Cayley, Wellsweep Press, London, 1994 (with foreword by Jonathan D. Spence) - this contains fiction by Haizi, Janet Tan, Henry Y.H. Zhao, Nan Fang, Ai Yan, Jane Ying Zha, Duo Duo and Du Ma; poetry by Bei Dao, Duo Duo, Yang Lian, Gu Cheng, Zhang Zhen, Meng Lang, Zhang Zao, Bai Hua, Daxian, Li Li, Dean Lü, Hong Ying, Daozi, and Zi An; memoirs of underground literature by Zhang Langlang, A Cheng, Li Tuo, and Zhong Ming; belles lettres by Song Lin, Yan Li, Zhang Chengzhi, and Gu Xiaoyang; and criticism by Henry Y.H. Zhao and You Yi. * ''Abandoned Wine, Chinese Writing Today 2'', ed. by Henry Y.H. Zhao and John Cayley, Wellsweep Press, London, 1996 (with foreword by Gary Snyder). * ''Fissures. Chinese Writing Today 3'', ed. by Yiheng Zhao (Henry Y.H. Zhao), Yanbing Chen and John Rosenwald, Zephyr Press, 2000. The Jintian Series of Contemporary Literature (published by Zephyr Press) * ''Double Shadows. Selected Poetry of Ouyang Jianghe'', tr. Austin Woerner * ''A Phone Call From Dalian. Selected Poetry of Han Dong'', ed. by Nicky Harman * ''Something Crosses My Mind'' by Wang Xiaoni, tr. Eleanor Goodman (2014) * ''I Can Almost See Clouds of Dust'' by Yu Xiang, tr. Fiona Sze-Lorrain (2014) * ''October Dedications'' by Mang Ke, tr. Lucas Klein, with Huang Yibing and Jonathan Stalling (2017) * ''Mirror'' by Zhang Zao, tr. Fiona Sze-Lorrain

References

External links

''Jintian''''Today'' (''Jintian'') on worldcat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jintian 1978 establishments in China Chinese-language magazines Defunct magazines published in China Literary magazines published in China Magazines established in 1978 Magazines disestablished in 1990 Magazines published in Beijing Magazines published in Stockholm Online literary magazines Online magazines with defunct print editions