Gu Cheng

Gu Cheng (Simplified Chinese: 顾城; Traditional Chinese: 顧城; September 24, 1956 – October 8, 1993) was a famous Chinese modern poet, essayist and novelist. He was a prominent member of the "Misty Poets", a group of Chinese modernist poets.

黑夜給了我黑色的眼睛
我卻用它尋找光明

The Night has given me dark eyes
But I use them to look for light.

"One Generation", 1979

Quotes

• Even with these dark eyes, a gift of the dark night
  I go to seek the shining light.
  • "A Generation" [Yidai ren]

• The sky is grey
  The road is grey
  The building is grey
  The rain is grey
  Through this stretch of dead ash
  Walked two children
  One in bright red
  One in light green.
  • "Feeling" [Ganjue]

• A bird in the gusty wind
  Deftly changes direction

  A youth tries to pick up
  A penny

  The grapevine in fantasy
  Stretches its tentacles

  The Wave in retreat
  Arches its back.
  • "Curve" [Huxian]

• Clouds that are grey
  Can no longer be washed clean.
  We open the umbrella
  And simply paint the sky black.
  • "A Walk In The Rain" [Yu xing]

Quotes about Gu Cheng

• It is probably safe to say that Gu Cheng was the most radical poet in all of China's 2,500 years of written poetry.
  • Eliot Weinberger, Oranges & Peanuts for Sale (2009), p. 54