66 chapter two
ficial channels. Han Dong, who was studying philosophy at Shandong
University, was a Campus poet of some renown. Wu Kaijin notes that
in 1981 Han received an award from the official journal Youth (䴦)
for a poem series that still reflected the tragic-heroic Obscure tradition
established by Today, particularly by the early Bei Dao. Soon thereaf-
ter Han radically changed his style. «Mountain People» (ቅ⇥, 1982)
is widely seen as a harbinger of trends that would supersede Obscure
Poetry from the mid-1980s onward.^3
«Mountain People»
as a child, he asked his father
“what’s beyond the mountains”
his father said “mountains”
“and beyond beyond”
“mountains, more mountains”
he made no sound, looking in the distance
for the first time, the mountains made him tired
he thought he couldn’t get out of the mountains in this life
the sea was there, but far away
so before he’d get there
he’d die halfway
die in the mountains
he felt he should set out together with his old lady
his old lady would give him a son
and by the time he died
his son would have grown up
and his son would have an old lady too
and his son would have a son too
and his son’s son would have a son too
he stopped thinking
his son made him tired too
he only regretted
his ancestors hadn’t thought that way
or the one to see the sea would have been him(^3) Wu Kaijin 1991: 214, Lao Mu 1985a: 572-573.