Yang Lian [ China ]

Yang Lian, the son of a Chinese diplomat, was born in Bern, Switzerland in 1955. He grew up in Beijing and like all Chinese of his generation, was sent to work in the fields in 1974 to undergo the »Re-education Through Labour«. From 1977 he worked as programme organiser and editor for the state-run broadcasting service. During the »Beijing Spring« (1978-80) he published his first »modernist« poems in the underground literary magazine »Jintian«.

From 1978 to 1983 the young poet travelled extensively, following the trail of Chinese history. During this time he authored major works, including the epic poem, »Nuorilang«, which received harsh criticism in the context of the campaign »Against Spiritual Pollution« in 1983. Between 1985 and 1989 Lian worked on »Yi«, his longest poem cycle, totalling around 200 pages. Its inner structure is modelled on »The Book of Changes« (»I Ching«, approx. 2800 BC).

After his first trip to Europe in 1986, Lian was invited to Australia and New Zealand in 1988. While he was abroad he heard of the massacre in Tiananmen Square in June 1989. He has been living in exile ever since. Scholarships took him to different countries in the West, including Berlin in 1991. He took part in the art exhibition »documenta« in 1997 and received the Flaiano International Prize for Poetry in 1999. Today Lian is a New Zealand citizen and lives in London.

The translator Wolfgang Kubin describes the changes in Lian’s work after 1989 as follows: »The original pathos … is fading, the long form is replaced … by the short form, the ties to China are loosening in two respects: the Chinese world is no longer the immediate subject of his writing, and allusions to Chinese intellectual heritage are yielding increasingly to the interpretation of Occidental literature and philosophy.« Incessant references to death and mortality remain the leitmotifs of his poetry. Explanations such as the ones presented by Mark Renné, that these recurring themes can be attributed to the early death of his mother and his experiences as a pall-bearer, remain insufficient considering the near obsession with which the poet weaves reminders of mortality into his texts. He does this not in a melancholic way, but in a manner which never ceases to shock and which tears the reader unexpectedly out of the trance of everyday life. He confronts the reader with death and decay as the inescapable truth which accompanies all humans, frustrates them and heightens the intensity of their perception.

© international literature festival berlin