Yu Jian (;), born 1954, is a Chinese poet, writer and documentary film director. He is a major figure among ‘The Third Generation Poets’ that came after the
Misty Poetry movement of the early 1980s. His work has been translated into English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Danish, and Japanese.
[Jacket Magazine, 2006 http://jacketmagazine.com/29/yujian-padgett.html]
Biography
Born in
Kunming, China, on August 8, 1954, Yu Jian's schooling was interrupted in 1966 by 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 goa ...
. He became a factory worker in 1969, where frequent power failures enabled him to read voraciously. He started writing poetry (free verse) at the age of twenty. He studied in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, at
Yunnan University
Yunnan University (, Acronym: YNU) is a national key university in Yunnan Province, China. Its main campuses are located in the provincial capital city of Kunming.
Founded in December 1922, Yunnan University started to enroll in April 1923. It ...
, and was a literary activist, organising events and editing publications. His career as a published poet took off when his poem "6 Shangyi Street" was published in China's leading poetry journal ''Shikan'' in 1986. He published a controversial long poem ''File Zero'' in 1994, then a collection of travel sketches and impressions of daily life ''Notes from the Human World'' in 1999, and another long poem ''Flight'' in 2000.
[Words Without Borders https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/contributor/yu-jian/]
Honours and awards
* 2010 - "Home", poem, in cooperation with Zhu Xiaoyang won Taiwan's 14th United Daily News New Poetry Prize (2010), Taiwan's Genesis Poetry Magazine Prize and the
Lu Xun Literary Prize The Lu Xun Literary Prize (or Lu Xun Literature Prize) 鲁迅文学奖 is a literary prize awarded by China Writers Association. It is one of China's top four literary prizes and is named after Lu Xun and has been awarded every three years since ...
.
* 2003 - "Turquoise Bus Stop", documentary, was considered for the 2003 Amsterdam International Documentary Filmmaking Festival's Silver Wolf AwardHome (2010).
* The German edition of Yu Jian's poetry collection ''File Zero'' won the German Association for the Promotion of Asia, African and Latin American Literature's “World Experiences” Prize.
Selected Publications - translated into English
* "16", "50", "63", "84", "The Last Summer Storm", tr. George O’Connell and Diana Shi, in ''Atlanta Review'' xiv, 2 (Spring/Summer 2008).
* "A Beethoven Chronology"
多芬纪年 tr. Steve Bradbury, in ''Words without Borders'' (Dec. 2011).
* "Immanuel Kant", tr. Steve Bradbury, in ''Words without Borders'' (Dec. 2011).
* "File 0", tr. Maghiel van Crevel, in ''Renditions'' 56 (2001).
* ''Flash Cards'', tr. by Wang Ping and Ron Padgett (St. Paul, MN: Zephyr Press, 2011)
* "Four Poems", tr. Simon Patton, in ''Renditions'' 46 (1996).
* "Poems" in Wang Ping, ed., ''New Generation: Poems from China Today'' (Brooklyn: Hanging Loose Press, 1999).
* "Short Pieces (Selections)", tr. Nicholas Kaldis, in ''Dirty Goat'' 24 (2011).
* "Small Town", tr. Simon Patton, in ''Chinese Literature Today'' 3, 1/2 (2013).
* "Two Poems"
Fat man with a kind face…" and "Crows in black robes" tr. John Crespi, in ''basalt'' 2, 1 (2007).
* "Two or Three Things from the Past", tr. Wang Ping and Ron Padgett, in ''Words Without Borders'' (Dec. 2004).
References
Selected Documentary Films
* "Turquoise Bus Stop" (2003) was considered for the 2003 Amsterdam International Documentary Filmmaking Festival's Silver Wolf Award
External links
Yu Jian on Paper RepublicYu Jian on MCLC (Modern Chinese Literature and CultureYu Jian on Poetry International
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yu, Jian
1954 births
Yunnan University alumni
People's Republic of China poets
People's Republic of China essayists
Living people
People from Kunming
Film directors from Yunnan
Poets from Yunnan