Mu Dan was one of China's leading 20th century poets and translators. Born Zha Liangzheng, he was hailed as the country's "first modern poet" by many experts of modern literature, but his contributions extend beyond poetry. Through his translations, Mu Dan introduced Western literary giants to China, leaving behind monumental contributions in both poetry and translation.
A new biography, Mu Dan: Xinsheng De Yeli (The Wild Power of New Birth), was recently published by Yilin Press, chronicling Mu Dan's life and his poetry composition, detailing the trials and triumphs he faced.
The author, Zou Hanming, dedicated 17 years to compiling this biography, meticulously researching unpublished archives, wartime documents, letters, memoirs and diaries. He also conducted in-depth interviews with Mu Dan scholars, fellow poets and close friends. The book, which contains 60 rare historical photographs, paints a vividly detailed portrait of the subject's life.
As a poet and scholar, Zou integrated his own detailed interpretation of Mu Dan's poetry to explain his artistic achievements and intellectual depth as a pioneer of modernist poetry in China.
Born in 1918 in Tianjin, Mu Dan began writing poetry at a young age, publishing in his high school magazine. In 1935, he enrolled in the foreign language department at Tsinghua University.
When the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) erupted in full scale in 1937, he followed his university to Changsha (in today's Hunan province) and later to Kunming (in today's Yunnan province), where he graduated in 1940 from the Southwest Associated University, and subsequently began teaching there.
In 1942, he enlisted as a translator for the Chinese Expeditionary Force to Myanmar. After the war, he continued his education in the United States at the University of Chicago in Illinois. Upon returning to China, he became an associate professor at Nankai University in Tianjin.
He passed away in 1977. His major works, such as Tanxian Dui (A Group of Adventurers) and Mu Dan Shiji (Mu Dan's Poetry Collection), were significant milestones in poetry.
