On this day, 29 years ago, May 5, 1996 (March 18, 1996, the lunar calendar), the poet Ai Qing passed away. Ai Qing, formerly known as Jiang Haicheng, was born on March 27, 1910 in Jiang Village, Fantian, Jinhua County, Zhejiang Province. After she was born, Ai Qing was identified as a "nemesis" by a fortune-teller and was sent to the home of a poor peasant woman named Dayanhe in the village to be raised. In 1928, Ai Qing was admitted to the Painting Department of Hangzhou National West Lake Academy of Art, and went to France to work and study in the following spring. In January 1932, Ai Qing set off for China, joined the revolutionary literary and artistic movement, and devoted himself to poetry creation. His creative experience can be roughly divided into four stages: the first stage: from 1932 to 1937,"July. Before and after the July Incident, Ai Qing wrote poems such as "That Side" that worried about the country and the people on his way back to China. In May 1932, he joined the China Left-wing Artists Alliance in Shanghai, organized the "Chundi Art Society" with painter Jiang Feng and others, and held the "Chundi Painting Fair" with Lu Xun's support. In July, he was arrested and imprisoned by Kuomintang spies and was falsely charged with subversion of the government in prison. In prison, he wrote a large number of poems such as "Reed Flute","Transparent Night","Paris", and "Marseille". Among them, the poem "Dayan River-My Nanny" made Ai Qing famous. After being released from prison in 1935, Ai Qing taught and later wandered in Shanghai. In 1936, with the support of friends, the first collection of poems "Dayan River" was published in Shanghai at his own expense. This period was the period when Ai Qing brought back reed flutes from Europa and sang "Dayan River". The second stage: from 1937 to 1945, was the climax of Ai Qing's poetry creation. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Ai Qing traveled from Shanghai to Wuhan, Xi'an, Guilin and other places to participate in the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Movement. In the spring of 1941, after the "Southern Anhui Incident", he rushed to Yan' an, was elected as a senator for the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and edited the "Poetry Magazine". During this period, he published nine poetry collections including "Towards the Sun" and "North". The third stage was from the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945 to the collapse of the Jiang Qing Revolutionary Group in 1976. During this stage, Ai Qing's life and creation experienced many changes and twists and turns. He was classified as a rightist in the anti-rightist movement. In April 1958, Ai Qing left the literary and artistic circles and settled in a forest farm in Heilongjiang. The following year, he joined the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. He was repeatedly criticized and fought during the Cultural Revolution. The most important works of this period include the short poem "A Journey to South America" and the long poem "The Atlantic Ocean". Fourth stage: From October 1976, Ai Qing regained the freedom to write and published the second peak period of creation. He has published poetry collections such as "The Song of Returning","Colored Poetry","Snow Lotus" and "Ai Qing's Talk on Poetry". Ai Qing is a realistic poet with a unique style who has had an important influence in the history of new poetry in China. His poems more integrate personal destiny into the suffering of the nation and the people, and convey the aspirations of the times and the people. Chilean poet Pablo Neruda once called Ai Qing "a master of China poetry" in his memoirs. Ai Qing's works Ai Qing in middle age