Beyond the Horizon, Within the Native Tongue: The Chinese Essence in Bei Dao’s Linguistic Exile

Abstract

The fate of the poet and the fate of the poetry are intertwined. Since 1989, Bei Dao has wandered abroad, and the poet’s state of in-between displacement has made the exile of language a defining poetic characteristic of his poetry during this period. And the memories, emotions, narratives, and imaginations carried by the Chinese language have also left an indelible aesthetic mark on Bei Dao’s poetry. Thus, in his overseas creative phase, Bei Dao’s poetic landscape may lie beyond the horizon, yet it remains rooted forever within his native Chinese tongue. This paper will explore how Bei Dao’s “in-between” existence abroad fosters an imagined homeland through his overseas writing, thereby preserving and redefining a “Chinese essence” within his work in this period. For Bei Dao, exile is paradoxically what enables a deeper engagement with the native tongue, transforming it into a measure for understanding the relationship between self and world.