194 chapter five
ing imagery. All this goes to show that he has an independent mind and
great courage.Lan’s representation of Xi Chuan’s poethood is that of a beacon in
dark times, much like Yang Changzheng’s characterization of the poet
as “a fortress on the contemporary poetry scene.” Cui Weiping had
earlier voiced similar sentiments when she wrote, in 1992:^9
Among modern writings full of hullabaloo, strangeness, loss and the feel-
ing of being torn, Xi Chuan is miraculously neither torn nor confused,
and in fact exudes qualities of harmony, contemplation and light.After these quotations, it should come as no surprise that in the
mid-1990s, as Xi Chuan was coming into this stride amid contested
notions of poetry against a backdrop of rapid social change, some ap-
praisals of his work contain explicit acts of canonization of both text and
author. Liu Na’s essay opens with this candidly idolizing abstract:^10
Xi Chuan is one of the most serious and determined among those writ-
ing poetry in China since the mid-1980s.
Xi Chuan’s poetry has become a contemporary Chinese literary phe-
nomenon that cannot be overlooked.
Xi Chuan’s poetry is in the first stages of acquiring normative signifi-
cance.- A Different Voice: Poetry Rising, Poets Falling
The above commentaries show how acutely the tension between the
spiritual and the material was felt by the critics concerned. Yet, it is
surprising that their reviews aren’t more cognizant of spectacular de-
velopments in Xi Chuan’s writing since the early 1990s, that occurred
amid far-reaching changes in contemporary Chinese poetry at large.
From Faith and Structure to Doubt and DeconstructionTo bring out the contrast with Xi Chuan’s early work, let’s first consid-
er «In Hairag, Gazing at the Starry Sky» (જᇨⲪӄᳯ᯳ぎ), writ-
ten in 1985 and revised in 1987 and 1988. Yang Changzheng alludes
(^9) Yang Changzheng 1994: 47, Cui 1992: 120.
(^10) Liu Na 1994: 75.