Gu Cheng - New Directions Publishing

We Are Green and Trembling is the winner of the 2025 National Book Award in Translated Literature! Click here to get the book. ESC

Gu Cheng’s poems range across the sepctrum, from the naïve inclinations of his early years to the haunting experimentation of his late period. One of the most influential poets of modern China, his talent burned too fast, accelerating his writing far beyond our expectations.

— Bei Dao Download Gu Cheng

As author

Sea Of Dreams

Gu Cheng

Gu Cheng (1956–1993) was born in Beijing, China. In 1978, Gu Cheng became involved with Jintian, a magazine that became the center for the “Misty Poets,” a group of modernist poets who wrote “misty” or “obscure” poetry. Gu Cheng was exiled, along with other Misty Poets Bei Dao, Duo Duo, and Yang Lian, in 1989 after the Tiananmen Square protests. He died in 1993.

Sea Of Dreams

by Gu Cheng

Gu Cheng (1956-1993) is one of China’s most celebrated contemporary poets. His early death ended a literary career that was influenced by the Cultural Revolution and that reawakened the lyricism of Chinese poets during the 1980s. Offering a unique blend of brooding imagism and political innuendo, Gu Cheng’s poetry traces complex changes in the poet’s life-familial, psychological, cultural––but also radiates innocence and a touching melancholy. His poetry began on the farms in Shandong province where his parents were exiled during the Cultural Revolution, and ended on a small island in New Zealand where he took up a Thoreau-like existence before his tragic suicide. His poem “One Generation” became emblematic for the generation coming of age during the ’60s and ’70s. Here for the first time is an edition based on the poet’s own personal selections from his work, and including the magnificent sequences of his middle career. Also incorporated are essays, letters, an interview, and excerpts from Gu Cheng’s novel Ying’er.

Buy AmazonBarnes & NobleYour Independent Bookstore

Gu Cheng’s poems range across the sepctrum, from the naïve inclinations of his early years to the haunting experimentation of his late period. One of the most influential poets of modern China, his talent burned too fast, accelerating his writing far beyond our expectations.

— Bei Dao Scroll to Top of Page Keep up to date with New Directions Email Address Sign Up Follow us