Zhang Zao (; December 29, 1962March 8, 2010) was one of the most important Chinese poets of the 20th century. He was considered one of the "Five Masters from

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of t ...

" () in the 80s' Chinese poetry scene, along with other famous poets Bai Hua (), Ouyang Jianghe (),

Zhai Yongming Zhai Yongming (born 1955) is a Chinese poet, essayist and screenwriter from Chengdu, in the southwest Sichuan Province. Born during the Maoist era, Zhai was forcibly sent away for two years to do manual labor in the countryside as part of the Cu ...

(), and Zhong Ming ().Some include Sun Wenbo () in the list, while either excluding Zhong Ming or excluding Zhang Zao. These poets are sometimes said to belong to the "Post-

Hermeticist Hermeticism, or Hermetism, is a philosophical system that is primarily based on the purported teachings of Hermes Trismegistus (a legendary Hellenistic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth). These teachings are containe ...

School" (;

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: die Posthermetische Schule) of poetry. Zhang's writing was sparse, having written for half a century but left behind only about 130 poems. He is arguably most famous for his debut poem in his early twenties, titled ''In the Mirror'' (), with the much quoted lines, "once regrets come to mind, plum blossoms fall and cover the Southern Mountain" (只要想起一生中后悔的事 / 梅花便落满了南山). His style of poetry is described as "enigmatic", "complex" and "elegant", balancing between contemporary techniques and various aspects of

classical Chinese literature Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucia ...

aesthetics. Being able to speak English, German and French, as well as Russian and Latin to some degree of familiarity, He was also able to write with a certain sort of "multilingualist" property, drawing inspirations from other languages. Zhang died of lung cancer on 8 March 2010 at the age of 48 at Tübingen University Hospital in Germany. The only collection of his works published pre-humously is ''Letters in Four Seasons'' () , which contains 63 poems, selected by the poet himself.

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{{Improve categories, date=September 2021 20th-century Chinese poets 1962 births 2010 deaths Poets from Sichuan