Xu Zhimo

Xu Zhimo was born in 1897 in a wealthy family in Haining, Zhejiang. He studied law and political science at various universities in China, the United States, and England. He was especially influenced by the English Romantic poets, such as Keats and Shelley, and the Bengali poet Tagore, whom he met and interpreted for in China. He returned to China in 1922 and became a leading figure of the modern poetry movement. He founded the Crescent Moon Society, a literary group that advocated for "art for art's sake" and opposed the political propaganda of the left-wing writers. He wrote poems and essays that expressed his love for freedom, beauty, and nature, as well as his personal experiences and emotions. He also introduced Western poetry and literature to China and translated works by Keats, Shelley, Tagore, and others. He was known for his romantic and unconventional lifestyle, having married twice and having affairs with several women, including the writer Lin Huiyin. He died in a plane crash near Jinan in 1931, at the age of 34. He was regarded as one of the most influential and popular poets of modern China.