The Research Between The "Beige Book" And The Underground Poetry In Beijing From1968to1973

The Underground Poetry in Beijing is one of the important parts of the underground literature in the period of the Cultural Revolution, most of which are unpublished but made private copies. This kind of poetry is quite different from that of the "mainstream works"’in the aspect of contents, styles and thought expressions. It is firmly related to the Translation of the foreign literatures.During the time of nineteen fifties to nineteen eighties, Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee assigned some leading Chinese publishing houses to translate and publish a multitude of influential foreign literature works in the cycle of designated groups in order to cooperate with the needs of the ideological struggles between China and western countries. This sort of foreign literature works was called the Beige Book, used as references and for criticism. From the publisher’s notes or forewords, we can see that the translation and publication of the "Beige Book"-its design, the choose of contents, the translating style, etc.-was greatly influenced by the political context and the mainstream discourses at that time. Although limited to designated cycles, the Beige Book was soon speed among and proliferated into the ordinary reading people by various means, regarded as the Bible of Enlightenment by the youth and affecting the creation of the underground literature during the period of1968to1973.The Beige Book’s main influence on the underground poetry during the period of1968to1973was the content and style. For example, Beidao’s political lyric poetries were extremely affected by Babi Yar and Others by Yevgeny Yevtushenko. His poetry Ending or Beginning which discussed Chinese political events was enlightened by Soviet writers and works (such as Yevtushenko) in the aspects of lyrical content, language usage and the structure. Inspired by the book Man Time Life, Duoduo began to indulge himself in the Russian literature and its thought-provoking world.The Beige Book also influenced the recitation and transmission of the Underground Poetry in this period. In tradition, poetries were transmitted by means of printing and transcribing. However, in this period, due to the political pressure of speech freedom and mind control, the Beige Book can only be disseminated secretly, which provided the underground poets with a new way to know the foreign poetries. Yevtushenko’s emphasis on poetry recitation also affected the reception and exchange of the Underground Poetry. The underground poets stressed on the rhythm, rhetoric and infectivity of the poems, and recited their own poems on the occasion of square gathering or poetry sharing meeting where they would like to expand the influence of their poems. Among these poets, Shizhi was the typical one whose poems generated an extensive influence by means of serf-recitation and from mouth to mouth.Besides the influence on the creation of the Underground Poetry, the Beige Book changed the living status and the spiritual demand of underground poets, which indirectly affected their poetry creating. For example, On the Road, The Catcher in the Rye, Train Tickets with the Stars, known as the "critical novels", inspired many adolescent poets to search for the living style of body on the road and the literal expression of spiritual runaway. This was reflected in the following two aspects:on the one hand, these poets acquire the modern experience of "the backward flake scenery" and achieved the spiritual pursuit of "on the road" by the new vehicle of train, and then put these experience and pursuit into their poetry writing; on the other hand, the underground poets of "Baiyangdian poetry tribe", one of the major underground poetry groups living in Anxin country of Baoding city, acquired the sense of "Swing stereoscopic landscape" by waterways and incorporated the poem-writing and communication into the daily life by making private copies, discussing and exchanging the manuscripts during a relatively relaxed political environment. Meanwhile, the exchange and commune of the poets from Beijing, Tianjin and Baiyangdian offered the possibility to enrich the creativity and multiplicity of "Baiyangdian poetry tribe". Furthermore, the description of the life of exiled poets in Soviet Russia in the book Man Time Life, excerpted in The Beige Book, made them understand the spirit of resistance and nobility, at the same time, the presentation of the modern experience of Paris in the book opened their horizon for the new world. In the meantime, the "salon culture" of this memoir was praised and followed by the underground poets. At that time, there appeared a couple of salons named after their creators, in which they set up their own salons to gather their schoolmates and friends to communicate the ideas of literature, arts and even philosophy under certain conditions. These salons became the specific space for them to produce works and exchange thoughts. For example, Xu Haoyuan’s salon had many young poets, such as Genzi, Yiqun, and so on.In general, as a sort of restricted publication during a special political period, The Beige Book becomes an abnormal literature phenomenon and assumes a peculiar Aesthetic mission, enlightening a part of youths for their literal education. It casts great influence on the poetry production and transmission as well as the living status and spiritual pursuit of the underground poets in Beijing during that time, and with the passing of the time, its profound and lasting significance will be more prominent in future.