Great Regulars: A panel of literary critics

hired by Zhongshan, a magazine based in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu, propelled Bei Dao, the pen-name of Zhao Zhenkai, to the highest ranking in a recent issue of the magazine.

U.S.-based literary critic Xie Xuanjun said the move was a form of official acceptance for Bei Dao, one of the "Misty" school of poets whose work sprang from the immediate aftermath of the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

He said the government had never seen Bei Dao as an outright opponent, in spite of his exile following the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square.

from Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: Exiled Poet Wins Praise

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