The Struggles of the Cultural Revolution Revealed in Bei Dao's "Notes from the City of the Sun"In his poem "Notes from the City of the Sun", Bei Dao uses obscure imagery consistent with the Misty Poets and veiled political references to illustrate the struggles of Chinese society during the Cultural Revolution. The poem is divided into fourteen short stanzas containing symbolic images of cultural hegemony in China during the reign of Mao Zedong. Bei Dao, born Zhao Zhen-kai, is an anti-revolutionary poet and one of the founders of a group known as Misty Poets. The Misty Poets wrote poems to protest the Cultural Revolution led by Mao Zedong. This is why many of Bei Dao's poems denounce the Cultural Revolution and the restrictions it imposed on all forms of art. Bei Dao's poetry is described as "foggy" because of the ambiguity of his references to Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution. An obscure imagery that appears twice in “Notes” is the imagery of the sun. Another imagery that depicts the injustice of the Cultural Revolution is the depiction of freedom as pieces of paper. In the poem, Bei Dao also likens faith to sheep falling into a ditch; it is a depiction of blind faith during the Cultural Revolution. The purpose of this essay is to analyze how Bei Dao uses the ambiguous imagery and implicit political context of the Misty Poet in the poem "Notes from the City of the Sun" to illustrate cultural hegemony in China under Mao. One consistent imagery in “Notes” that has a political implication is the sun. Universally, the sun represents heat and life-giving energy; however in this poem, the sun represents Mao Zedong. According to McDougall, the sun was commonly used to "mean Mao Zedon...... middle of paper ...... very veiled political references in Bei Dao's poem, "Notes from the City of the Sun", are used to illustrate the struggles of the people during the Cultural Revolution. Works consulted Dao, Bei. “Notes from the City of the Sun.” A world of literature. Ed. Lim, Shirley G. and Spencer, Norman A. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. 231-233. Print. Gittings, John. The changing face of China: from Mao to the market. Oxford University Press, 2005. Ma, Sheng-Mei. “Contrast of two literatures of survival: on the Jewish Holocaust and the Chinese cultural revolution”. Holocaust and Genocide Studies 2.1 (1987): 81-93. McDougall, Bonnie S. "Bei Dao Poetry: Revelation and Communication." Modern Chinese Literature 1.2 (1985): 225-252. McDougall, Bonnie. “Problems and Possibilities in the Translation of Contemporary Chinese Literature.” The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs (1991): 37-67.