Qualia Contemporary Art
Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650) 656-9132
qca_info@qualiagallery.com www.qualiagallery.com
BIOGRAPHY
YU JIAN 于坚
b. 1954 in Kunming, China
Yu Jian, courtesy name Zhibai, is a poet, writer, photographer, and documentary filmmaker. He was 12 years old when the Cultural Revolution began, causing his schooling to be interrupted. At 16, he was assigned by the state to work in a factory. In 1980, he was admitted to the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Yunnan University through self-study, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Yu Jian began writing poetry in the early 1970s. In 1979, he co-founded the mimeographed literary magazine Underground Fire (Dihuo) with several writers in Kunming. In 1985, he joined other Chinese poets to launch the printed poetry journal They (Tamen). He has since published over 50 works in China and internationally, including Sixty Poems (1989), The Poetry of Yu Jian (2001), Notes on Scraps (2002), Poetry and Images (2003), Only the Sea Vast as a Curtain (2006), Who Is He (2013), and Wanderings (2023), as well as essay collections, photography books, and documentary films. His works have been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Galician, Dutch, Italian, Japanese, Hindi, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Serbian, Russian, Korean, Greek, Bulgarian, Polish, and more.
Selected Accomplishments:
Yu’s 2004 documentary Bise Station was selected for the Silver Wolf Competition in the First Appearance section at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).
Yu Jian has received numerous literary awards, including the Lu Xun Literature Prize, the Zhu Ziqing Essay Prize, the Chinese Literature Media Outstanding Writer of the Year Award, and Taiwan’s Genesis Poetry Award, among many others.
The German translation of Yu’s selected poems, Dossier 0, was awarded first place in the Weltempfänger list of top African, Asian, and Latin American literary works by Litprom (Society for the Promotion of Literature from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, Germany). Dossier 0 was also selected for inclusion in The Big Red Book of Modern Chinese Literature, published by W.W. Norton & Company.
The French edition of The Implied Rose was shortlisted for the Découverte Poetry Prize in France.
Long poem Lament for Dianchi Lake received the Student Translation Prize from the journal World Literature Today at the University of Oklahoma.
Yu Jian has also held photography exhibitions in Yunnan, Taiwan, Macau, Paris, and Spain.
Writing on photographic print
Photo: 50 x 80 cm, 19.5 x 31.5 in
Mounted: 70 x 100 cm, 27.5 x 39.5 in
Framed: 58.4 x 85.1 cm, 23 x 33.5 in
房子 House, 2025
Writing on photographic print
Photo: 50 x 80 cm, 19.5 x 31.5 in
Mounted: 70 x 100 cm, 27.5 x 39.5 in
Framed: 58.4 x 85.1 cm, 23 x 33.5 in
国王 King, 2025
Writing on photographic print
Photo: 50 x 80 cm, 19.5 x 31.5 in
Mounted: 70 x 100 cm, 27.5 x 39.5 in
Framed: 58.4 x 85.1 cm, 23 x 33.5 in
管子 Tube, 2025
Writing on photographic print
Photo: 50 x 80 cm, 19.5 x 31.5 in
Mounted: 70 x 100 cm, 27.5 x 39.5 in
Framed: 58.4 x 85.1 cm, 23 x 33.5 in
狮子 Lion, 2025