{"id":41927,"date":"2017-04-04T10:33:23","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T14:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=41927"},"modified":"2017-03-31T16:03:48","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T20:03:48","slug":"city-gate-open-bei-dao-translated-jeffrey-yang-booklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/city-gate-open-bei-dao-translated-jeffrey-yang-booklist\/","title":{"rendered":"City Gate, Open Up by Bei Dao, translated by Jeffrey Yang [in Booklist]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-41876\" src=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/02\/City-Gate-Open-Up-by-Bei-Dao.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"461\" height=\"700\" \/>Bei Dao is considered the most prominent of China\u2019s \u201cMisty Poets,\u201d named for the abstract, opaque nature of their compositions written predominantly during the oppressive Cultural Revolution. In contrast, the language of Bei Dao\u2019s memoir, seamlessly translated by fellow poet Yang, is elegantly simple and guilelessly accessible.<\/p>\n<p>As if signalling full disclosure, Bei Dao only uses his birth name, Zhao Zhenkai, throughout. After almost 13 years of exile, Bei Dao returned in 2001 to visit his ill father in a Beijing that \u201chad completely changed.\u201d Feeling like \u201ca foreigner in his own town,\u201d he conjures his memories to open a \u201ccity gate\u201d to a disappeared Beijing, his coming-of-age inextricably intertwined with the tumultuous history of modern China.<\/p>\n<p>Like memories, Bei Dao\u2019s narrative isn\u2019t linear or exact, but rather recalls momentary snippets and extended interludes flowing effortlessly between time and experiences. Winter white cabbage, vinyl records, pet rabbits, banned books, and first and last \u201cI love yous\u201d provide intimate glimpses that \u201copen up\u201d to reveal extraordinary, immediate testimony of challenges survived in a life intensely lived.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Review<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.booklistonline.com\/City-Gate-Open-Up-Bei-Dao\/pid=8700478\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">&#8220;Nonfiction,&#8221; <em>Booklist Online<\/em>, March 31, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n<p><strong>Published<\/strong>: 2017 (United States)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bei Dao is considered the most prominent of China\u2019s \u201cMisty Poets,\u201d named for the abstract, opaque nature of their compositions written predominantly during the oppressive Cultural Revolution. In contrast, the language of Bei Dao\u2019s memoir, seamlessly translated by fellow poet Yang, is elegantly simple and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,67,107,20,6535,66],"tags":[7259,6608,6668,7257,58,24,51,7258,39,44,7260],"class_list":["post-41927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-chinese","category-memoir","category-nonfiction","category-repost","category-translation","tag-bei-dao","tag-bookdragon","tag-booklist","tag-city-gate-open-up","tag-coming-of-age","tag-historical","tag-identity","tag-jeffrey-yang","tag-parent-child-relationship","tag-siblings","tag-zhao-zhenkai"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.14 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>City Gate, Open Up by Bei Dao, translated by Jeffrey Yang [in Booklist] - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/city-gate-open-bei-dao-translated-jeffrey-yang-booklist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"City Gate, Open Up by Bei Dao, translated by Jeffrey Yang [in Booklist] - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bei Dao is considered the most prominent of China\u2019s \u201cMisty Poets,\u201d named for the abstract, opaque nature of their compositions written predominantly during the oppressive Cultural Revolution. 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