‘Notes from the City of the Sun’ from The August Sleepwalker by Bei Dao

The title, Life and Living

1. What place might be the ‘City of the Sun’ of the title? Note how the title locates the notes
in a particular place, thus the notes all describe aspects of humanity and human activity
in this place.
The ‘City of the Sun’ is Beijing.
2. Speculate about the structure of the poem into various subtitled ‘notes’. What are the
nature and function of notes? Why might the poet choose this form?
Notes are fragments which suggests that it is difficult to piece together, and it is
ambiguous because we have to fill in the gaps. Notes have to be taken down quickly that
it is difficult to make sense of everything and you can only reduce it to notes. This
suggests that in the City of the Sun, there is a lot happening and there is a fragmentation
in society. Hard to process.
3. What are your common associations, both denotative and connotative, with the sun?
Sun denotes life but it can also bring destruction. It brings light, suggesting hope, power
and regeneration. Context: 1970 rebirth (and destruction) of China
 4. Do you think Bei Dao has these associations in mind when he writes ‘The sun has risen
too”, especially given what follows in the other stanzas? Explain why/why not.
Yes because the sun brings life, but with it comes destruction.
5. Implied by “too” is that the sun has not risen alone. Speculate about the purpose of using
“too”, which means ‘as well’ or ‘also’.
‘Life’ is a short statement, showing that it is already happening, however the sun has
risen ‘too’, suggesting that the two are not connected. The sun is an addition to the life
that already exists, despite the fact we typically associate the sun with life.
6. Explain the purpose of shifting from ‘life’ at the beginning of the poem to “Living” in the
final note of the poem.
‘Life’ is a general state; ‘living’ is the process.
7. Given what has been described in the other notes, why might “living” have become “a
net” in the final image of the poem? What do you make of this ending?
A ‘net’ suggests that you are trapped, but you can still see through the holes. This
reflects the state of living, where people are trapped and their vision is obscured.

Love

1. Why use a single word sentence for “tranquillity”? What is tranquillity and why use this
word to describe love? Should the word be read as positive or negative given the “wild
geese have flown” and the “old tree has toppled” leading to “salty acrid rain drifts”?
‘Tranquility’ means calm and peace, something typically associated with love. The old
tree is a symbol for the traditions and history which are now unrooted and lost. The
geese which have migrated away shows that it is winter. After all this disruption there is
a stillness. This reflects the current state of the city - the aftermath of destruction.
2. Explain the purpose of the poet’s use of present (perfect/simple) tense in this stanza –
“geese have flown”, “old tree has toppled” and “salty rain drifts”.
The use of present tense makes it very recent and immediate.
3. Why relate love to departed “wild geese” or a toppled “old tree”?
Implies winter because all the geese have migrated. This suggests the loss of something
that is a part of nature. Reflects history. The salty rain causes infertility in the soil,
meaning nothing can grow not even the tree that used to be rooted so deeply into the
soil. The tree has been toppled from the place where it grew from.
4. What is the nature of “acrid salty rain”? If this is part of the “virgin wasteland” how are
these two images related?
Suggests replenishment. This kind of rain is salty and creates infertility in this virgin
wasteland. ‘Virgin’ here simply means ‘new’ - in keeping with the stillness and sterility
after much destruction leaves a new wasteland behind.
5. Comment on the effect of the onomatopoeic “crash”.
Harsh sound, reflects destruction.
6. Comment on the effect of the dissonance of vowels in “acrid salty rain drifts”.
Harsh sounds again reflecting the destruction. (All of these techniques are supposed to
be read negatively.)
7. Having answered the above questions, summarise what you think this stanza is saying
 about love.
Love has become a stillness after destruction. Perversion of love, love from the people to
the country has caused this virgin wasteland. The tranquility is an ominous stillness that
follows this love.

Freedom and Child

1. What is the purpose of describing freedom metaphorically as “torn scraps of paper

fluttering”?
When paper is torn and thrown, the pieces ‘flutter’ in many directions. It is also difficult
to read what was written before and again these pieces are fragments and this implies
that freedom is scattered and insignificant, and it is difficult to retrieve because they are
essentially lost. (Context: people in China have lost their freedom) Freedom has become
the freedom to destroy, the same way that love is destructive. Just like how Mao
encouraged the Red Guards to go forth and destroy the ‘capitalist’ and ‘bourgeois’
influences. Mass chaos and destruction ensued.(link between notes ‘Love’ and
‘Freedom’).
2. Why use enjambment to isolate the word “fluttering”?
‘Fluttering’ is an incomplete verb, placed by itself to highlight that the action is not
finished and is still going on. Ominous.
3. Summarise the poet’s depiction of freedom.
Freedom to destroy; it is a destructive force now.
Freedom is scattered and unreadable now that it is torn.
4. A child is described as “a picture enclosing the whole ocean” which “folds into a paper
crane”. What are the qualities of a picture and what are the qualities of an ocean? What
is a child if a “whole ocean” is enclosed by “a picture”? Comment on the choice of diction
“enclosing”. In turn, if this ocean enclosed in a picture is folded into a (note “folds” could
imply ‘paper’) crane, what is a child?
Unreal image. ‘Enclosed’ and ‘folds’ suggest shaping and conforming. These words also
imply that the wide expanse of the outside world and nature is being forced into a man-
made shape. The picture of the ocean may be a photo which cannot capture the entirety
of the ocean. A photo will never show the true nature and expanse of the ocean.
5. Do you think this image of a child, given the nature of children, is positive or negative?
The images used under the note on ‘Child’ imply limitation, control. One is an image of
paper being folded into a specific shape, the other an image of an ocean enclosed in a
picture.

Girl and Youth

1. Note how the notes progress from child to girl to youth. Why might the poem sequence
these notes in this way?
The progression of the subtitles from “Child”, to “Girl” to “Youth” represent the early
stages of the journey to adolescence, resulting in the later stages of life towards the end
of the poem.
 2. What do the images of a girl as a “rainbow” that gathers “feathers” and a child as a
“picture” that “folds into a white crane” and freedom as “fluttering” scraps of paper have
in common? What pattern is emerging about the City of the Sun through this imagery?
What purpose might this pattern serve?
Perhaps all are images of insubstantiality. We have pieces and the unreal, but nothing
whole and substantial, much like the structure of notes. “Shimmering rainbow” is
beautiful but an illusion, “brightly coloured feathers” are beautiful but delicate,
insubstantial. A picture is not the real ocean.
3. Explore the qualities of a “shimmering rainbow” and its relationship to “brightly coloured
feathers” in the second line of the note on “Girl”. What does this suggest about the
nature of a girl in the City of the Sun?
Beautiful but transient, insubstantial.
4. What connotations does “red waves” have?
Drowning, washing over in red since waves roll over and over, repeatedly. It is an image
of youth overwhelmed by red. c
5. Comment on the use of the verb “drown” in relation to the waves and the oar?
Drown means to die by having your lungs filled with water. The oar is “solitary”, already
only a suggestion there might have once been a boat, and a solitary oar can only propel
a boat around and around. Red overwhelms this oar which already is dysfunctional (as
there need to be two for functionality, to direct a boat) and without a boat. A boat is
needed to make it useful. If the oar is all that is left of direction, and even it is engulfed by
red, then hope of ever achieving direction is lost.
6. What do these images portray about life in the City of the Sun?
Its whole purpose has become “red waves” which overwhelm other objects, like the oar.
Given this is ‘Youth’ it is ominous as this is the next generation, the future. Knowing the
context of the Red Guards and the emphasis in Mao’s propaganda posters on the colour
red, the image takes on sinister political associations - the Red Guards were Mao’s
instruments who helped destroy the ‘Four Olds’ targeted by the Cultural Revolution, and
the Red Guards were Chinese youths.

Art, People and Labour

1. In the note titled “Art” what has happened to the sun that “has risen” in stanza one?
Why?
It has become more intense, since it is reflected in a shattered mirror, intensifying the
light.
2. As a definition of art, what does it suggest art has become in the City of the Sun?
A mirror reflects reality back; if it is shattered then you can only see many pieces, not a
whole. Filled with reflected light, you cannot even see the fragmented image of reality. In
terms of the Cultural Revolution much propaganda was produced in the form of ‘art’ -
posters were displayed around cities like Beijing and Shanghai but many had
contradictory messages. Making sense of the ‘Party Direction’ became a national
obsession, motivated by fear that one misinterpret who the real enemy was, which might
lead to you being targeted.
 3. What is the effect of this image in terms of sight? Why might the poet suggest this
effect?
You cannot see a clear, whole picture of reality, and you are blinded.
4. What does a mirror do when it is whole? What has been lost if it is shattered, especially
if the remains reflect “a million scintillating suns”?
A mirror reflects a precise image of whatever is put in front of it, of reality. When
shattered the clarity of this reflection is lost, but the image of the sun is multiplied. In
historical context again, Mao gains more power, more ‘brilliance of light’ from being
reflected in a shattered mirror, from chaos.
5. Given the usual meanings of “scintillating” do you think it has such positive connotations
in its context of this metaphor for art? Why/why not?
It suggests blinding, an overwhelming amount of light that looks beautiful but in the
ironic sense that this kind of light is also distracting, is too much.
6. Note the use of “torn” in the note “People”. Re-read the poem and look for other uses of
this word, or words with similar destructive associations. What lexical pattern is
emerging through these notes from the City of the Sun? Cumulatively, what is the effect?
“Torn scraps of paper” under ‘Freedom’, “shattered mirror” under ‘Art’, and “toppled”
under ‘Love’. The cumulative effect is of destruction.
7. Why use the image of the moon torn into grains of wheat to describe people? What has
been the price of the fertility implied by “sown”? Why use the adjectives “gleaming” and
“honest” when the moon has been destroyed?
Fertility is the result of the destruction of a celestial body. The sky and earth are
described as honest, but note that the people are not. The ‘gleaming’ suggests
preciousness, and the whole image is one of planting, so suggests promised fertility, but
the COST is the moon, too high a price to pay.
8. For labour, “encircling the earth” implies a unity of hands, but what else does “encircling”
something imply? Or being part of the encirclement? This means in the City of the Sun,
labour might provide unity but it also does what?
Unity but also enclosure.

Fate and Faith

1. If fate is metaphorically described as a child striking a rail “at random”, how can this be
fate, since fate is inevitable rather than random? How do you explain this apparent
paradox?
A single seemingly arbitrary event has repercussions, like a child striking a rail makes
vibrations travel down the rail, and these strike the night, perhaps because of the faint
sound of the striking. The image is about a sequence of consequences from a single
apparently careless event.
2. There is a balance of cause and effect implied by the parallel structure of “child strikes
the railing” and “railing strikes the night” but both events happen “at random” – what has
happened to fate in the City of the Sun?
What once was a set course, a known future which one could put faith in, as denoted by
‘fate’, has become “random”, hence less certain, less secure.
 3. Cause and effect can again be seen in the relationship between the “monotonous pipe”
being played by the shepherd boy and the action of the “flock of sheep”. What is the
meaning of “monotonous”? What is the poet emphasising with the use of this word to
describe the pipe music?
“Monotonous” means repetitive, dull. The pipe music is the same drill, so the sound is
monotone.
4. What do you normally think of when you think of faith? Does your definition match that in
the note on faith in this poem?
Faith means to believe in something, to put your trust in it. The image is more one of
blind, unthinking faith, with someone in charge who plays the tune you follow.
5. In the City of the Sun, what has faith become according to this note?
Faith has become simple obedience, like sheep following the pipe of a shepherd. More
than that, the shepherd is a ‘boy’; youth (and inexperience) is leading the flock. Thinking
about the background context of the Red Guard, this image of ‘faith’ becomes even more
grim.

Peace and Motherland

1. The “old rifle” alludes to past war and at peace it has become the source of new growth
in “branches and buds”. Metaphorically, war has transformed into potential. However,
why does the poet describe this new growth from the “old rifle” as having become a
“cripple’s cane”?
The old rifle, symbol of past violence as denoted by the adjective ‘old’, is transformed by
the poet’s imagination into the potential for new growth, suggested by “sprouting”.
However, this new growth supports “a cripple”, so cannot flourish freely.
2. What happens in a “land where the king is dead”? Think about what a king is for and
what the results of having no king might be?
Leaderless, without guidance or direction. This perhaps connects back to the oar,
because if the leader is a kind of boat, and he has gone and there is only one oar left, and
even that is getting swallowed by red under ‘Youth’, the next generation, then we are
only left with a red tide and no ‘king’ or mighty leader to oppose it.
3. Summarising 1 and 2 above, what is peace in the City of the Sun?
Peace has brought new growth which supports a cripple. This is not a good image of a
wonderful peace, where the new growth flourishes.
4. A shield of bronze is an antique artefact; a shield’s function is to protect. Why describe
the motherland as being “cast” (melded) onto something with these qualities?
The motherland is a museum relic, an artifact, something from the past. Put in a museum
the shield is no longer functional, can no longer actively protect people.
5. Does “blackened” mean ‘blackened’ in the sense of ‘blackened name’ or ‘blackened’ in
the sense of fire damage? Both? Either way, what is the function of a museum? What
does the “blackened wall” against which this shield leans say about the status of the
museum?
A “blackened wall” suggests neglect, decay, something damaged or besmirched. Not
only is the motherland shield set aside, a relic of the past, but it also rests in a place
which is damaged, neglected. This image becomes even more chilling in the knowledge
many museums and relics of China’s past were burned or smashed by Red Guards
(youth) in the Cultural Revolution.
6. Given the shield is where the motherland itself is cast, and given where the shield rests
now, what is the status of the motherland in the City of the Sun?
It is neglected; a relic, a bygone age. This implies the idea of motherland is lost in the
present, and as it is on a shield, that its protection is lost as well.
7. Given the “sun has risen” and these notes are from the City of the Sun, summarise the
extent to which the sun and City of the Sun have got positive or negative effects?
Overall the picture portrayed is fragmented, unclear, riddled with ambiguities of
interpretation and hard to piece together into a coherent whole, reflected in Bei Dao’s
choice of structure for this poem, and allusive images. His poem is like the description of
‘Art’ as “the shattered mirror”, where everything is reflected brokenly.