Ai Qing

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Ai Qing (艾青, 1910-1996), also written Ai Ch'ing, was a Chinese poet and political prisoner, often regarded as one of the finest modern Chinese poets.

He was born in Zhejiang province in eastern China. From 1929-32 he studied in France, learning about topics like the art of Renoir and Van Gogh, the poetry of Mayakovsky and Verhaeren and the philosophy of Kant and Hegel.

After returning to Shanghai, China, he was imprisoned for opposing the Kuomintang. He was released in 1935, and moved from city to city around the country which was involved in an escalating war with Japan. After 1958 he was suspected of "rightism" and exiled to farms in Manchuria and then Xinjiang by the Communist authorities. He was not allowed to publish his works until 1978.

He made a second journey to France in 1980, and in 1985 French president François Mitterrand awarded him the title of "Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters".