Poetry
One Generation
一代人
Gu Cheng · 1980
Synopsis
The poem is two lines long. The first says that the dark night has given the poet black eyes; the second, that he uses them nonetheless to seek the light. The Chinese title means “a generation”. It has been read as a faithful portrait of the youth of the Cultural Revolution, and Poetry International sees in it that of young people who were then seeking knowledge and a future; China Change recalls that the common reading sees in it an allusion to those years.
Context
Gu Cheng wrote these two lines in April 1979, according to Chinawriter and a University of Toronto notice, which cites the journal Xingxing as its source. China Change counts it among the most quoted obscure poems, and it is seen as perhaps his best-known contribution to contemporary Chinese literature. According to China Digital Times, it is the most remarkable of the committed poems he wrote from 1978 to 1984. The London Review of Books makes it the emblem of the new unofficial poetry. Joseph Allen translated it into English under the title One Generation in Sea of Dreams, in 2005.
Who it is for
Two lines, to be read in Chinese or in translation; several collections by Gu Cheng have appeared in French since 2015.
Prizes and reception
The text is probably Gu Cheng's most famous, and Poetry International regards it as his best-known work.
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