About the Author

Bei Dao (the pseudonym means `north island') was born in Beijing in 1949. Educated into the beliefs of Communist China, his subsequent disaffection found its voice in poetry, for which he has been nominated for the Nobel Prize on several occasions. He now lives and teaches in the USA.

Reviews

`To categorize Bei Dao as merely an exile or dissident is to miss the point. Bei Dao is simply a poet. There's no greater threat to totalitarianism than individuality, and few living writers possess a voice as elegant as that heard in Unlock'Andrew Ervin, Philadelphia Inquirer