Yang Lian

In 1977, after the Cultural Revolution had ended and Mao Zedong had died, Yang returned to Beijing, where he worked with the state broadcasting service.

• Name — Yang Lian • Native Name — 楊煉 • Born — 22 February 1955 • Birthplace — Bern, Switzerland • Occupation — Poet • Language — Mandarin Chinese • Period — Contemporary • Genre — Poetry • Movement — Misty Poets, Searching for Roots School

Yang began writing traditional Chinese poetry while working in the countryside, despite this genre of poetry being officially proscribed under the rule of Mao Zedong. In 1979, he became involved with the group of poets writing for 'Today' (Jintian) magazine, and his style of poetry developed into the modernist, experimental style common within that group. The "Today" group attracted considerable controversy during the early 1980s, and the initially derogatory term of "Misty Poets" was applied to them at this time. In 1983, Yang's poem "Norlang" (the name of a waterfall in Tibet) was criticised as part of the Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign, and a warrant was put out for his arrest. He managed to escape after a tip-off from friends; the campaign ended shortly afterwards.

Yang Lian was invited to become a visiting scholar by the University of Auckland in February 1989. Yang Lian was in Auckland, New Zealand, at the time of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, and was involved with protests against the actions of the Chinese government. His work was blacklisted in China shortly after 4 June 1989, and two books of his poetry awaiting publication there were pulped. Since then, he became a Chinese poet in exile in New Zealand. Yang Lian has published fifteen collections of poems, two collections of poetical prose, many essays and one big book of autobiographical prose in Chinese. He has translated all George Orwell's fiction works into Chinese (not published yet because of the censorship in China very recently). His latest book in English is The Third Shore, the anthology of Chinese–English poets' mutual translation (co-editor W. N. Herbert), published by Shearsman Books (UK), and Eastern Chinese Normal University Press](China), 2013. His latest book-length poem was titled Narrative Poem, an autobiographical poem. Yang Lian has held writers' fellowships in Australia, United States, Italy and Germany, and has travelled broadly. Although he has retained New Zealand citizenship (1993), and later became a British citizen (2008) too. he has lived in London since 1997, and he lives in Berlin and London now. Yang Lian was a fellow of Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin for 2012 / 2013. he is a guest professor of Nanjing University of the Arts, The Arts College of Hebei University and Yangzhou University. Since 2014, he has been invited to be a distinguished professor and a writer in residency at Shantou University, Guangdong Province, China. In 2013, he was invited to become a member of The Norwegian Academy for Literature and Freedom of Expression. Along with fellow Misty Poets, he has reportedly been nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. In 2024, he received the Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award having been described as "one of China’s most eminent living poets and an unwavering freedom of speech campaigner". Since 2005, he is professor at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and artistic director of the Unique Mother Tongue series of international poetry-arts events held periodically in London. Since 2017, Yang Lian, together with Mang Ke and Tang Xiaodu, republished the online magazine Survivors Poetry, as one of two chief editors.