The memory of the Chinese poet Xu Zhimo

1. Welcome to Cambridge - always
pleased to be connected to China or
Chinese friends
Professor Alan Barrell
Celebrating the life and work of a
great and famous poet from China
who will always be remembered here
Honoured to be your guide on our special Cambridge tour

2. Xu Zhimo and Cambridge - joining Nations and Cultures through the Art of Poetry
By visiting together the places the
poet loved as we reflect on his
wonderful words
Wandering through pictures,
Cambridge, Grantchester and the
River Cam - “taking a punt upstream”
Reading together Xu Zhimo’s emotional “Goodbye to Cambridge” poem. Perhaps
recalling our own “Goodbye”

3. Changhsu Hamilton Hsu originally called Xu Zhangxu was born in Haining, Zhejiang in
January 1897. He was educated at Hangzhou High School
Peiyang University where he then studied is now Tianjin University. He studied Law
in 1916 and moved to Peking University in 1917. Moving to Clark University in
Massachusetts USA he earned his bachelor’s degree.
After Peking and Clark in USA, Xu
Zhimo took a graduate degree in
political and social sciences at Columbia
University.
But he became disillusioned with
America. “I find the USA intolerable” he
said. He left New York in 1921 to study in
England in Cambridge

4. The Cambridge Phenomenon
50 Years of Innovation and Enterprise
A Medieval and Creative City and now a
Centre of Science and Technology
Cambridge today is different in some ways
but much is as Xu Zhimo found it in 1921

5. Once in Cambridge, he would have
crossed the Mathematical Bridge to enter
and wonder at the ancient Tudor Court
of Queens College

6. Downing College in the city
centre will have impressed him
greatly

7. Founded 1347
建立于1347年
Trinity College
三一学院
We don’t know what eventually stimulated Xu Zhimo in
the choice of his Cambridge College
We know he came here having decided he truly hated
being in the USA
He must have considered Trinity whose Great Gate is
shown here.
But a few minutes walk along Trinity Street - he found
another College which captured his imagination and
won his heart
And Xu Zhimo fell in love with English romantic poetry
and loved the poems of Keats and Shelley He did many
translations into Chinese
He became accepted an adopted by Cambridge -
where he remains fondly remembered today

8. It was the grandeur of Kings College that eventually won his heart
Begun by King Henry 6th in 1441 - some progress through Henry 7th - completed by
Henry 8th in 1544

9. The magnificent Kings College Chapel
100 years in the building

10. To live and
work here
meant
Inspiration for a
poet!
Xu Zhimo loved
Cambridge so
much

11. “The Backs” of the Colleges embrace the River Cam and
Kings has a very special outlook on the river.
Imagine Xu Zhumo strolling through these grounds - or resting
to watch the punters slowly moving past - on a bright sunny
day.

12. The “Bridge of Sighs” St John’s College
Like the famous Bridge of Sighs in Venice - linked with feelings of lovers and unrequited love
It reminds us that
Xu Zhimo’s
romantic life was
largely unhappy
and messy as with
other poets like
Shelley
His first arranged
marriage went
against his belief
in free and simple
love. It took a long
time for him to
escape and find
romantic love

13. And all around Cambridge - the peace and calm of Rural England
Xu Zhimo came to love the countryside around Cambridge a love
reflected in his poems

14. The village and riverside fields of Grantchester - wonderful for
walks and picnics
A village remembered through the life and untimely death of a famous young English Poet
- Rupert Brooke who lived there before his wartime experiences and wrote with passion
about the first world war - 1914-1918.

15. Puntung is part of the way of life in Cambridge
Xu Zhimo love punting on the River Cam and wrote words about it in his most
famous poem

16. “Just to punt a boat upstream - to where the green
grass is more verdant”
Poetic words of Xu Zhimo which illustrate his passion for punting. So many
idyllic spots to stop and enjoy the beauty of the open air

17. Punting boats upstream
The best way to visit the Colleges of Cambridge
as well as enjoying the scenery around
Just as it was when Xu Zhimo was here in
Cambridge

18. “The pool under the elm tress holds not water but the
rainbow from the sky”
Xu Zhimo saw colour and contrast and natural beauty in everything and his words
bring us romantic images of simple elements of the natural world
“Or to have the boat fully
loaded with starlight - to sing
aloud in the splendour of
starlight”
The fields and waterways around
the City of Cambridge can become
more magical at twilight - and the
moments joining day to night time

19. Xu Zhimo’s untimely death robbed the world of a great poet. But his words are here
forever with us, and his memory is celebrated every day in Cambridge - a great centre
of learning and culture
At Kings College, his life and times are celebrated in the Chapel and in the Xu
Zhimo Memorial Garden where rests the Memorial Stone

20. The beautiful Memorial Garden at Kings
A life remembered and cherished - cut short we should remember by a tragic death in 1931 - a
young man still - in a plane crash near Tai’an Shandong

21. The memorial stone to Xu Zhimo in Kings College beside the bridge
Place of pilgrimage for thousands of Chinese visitors every year

22. So now - I am privileged
to read for you the poem
many of us know by
heart
Xu Zhimo’s “Saying
Goodbye to Cambridge
Again”

23. Saying Goodbye to Cambridge again
Very quietly I take my leave, as quietly as I came here
Quietly I wave goodbye to the rosy clouds in the western sky.
The Golden willows by the riverside are young brides in the setting sun:
Their reflections on the shining waves always linger in the depth of my heart
The floating heart growing in the sludge sways leisurely under the water:
In the gentle waves of Cambridge I would be a water plant
That pool under the shade of elm trees , holds not water but the rainbow from the sky;
Shattered to pieces among the duckweeds is the sediment of a rainbow-like dream
To seek a dream? Just to punt a boat upstream to where the green grass is more verdant:
Or to have the boat fully loaded with starlight, to sing aloud in the splendour of starlight.
But I cannot sing aloud, Quietness is my farewell music ;
Even summer insects keep silence fore me; Cambridge is soundless tonight!
Very quietly I take my leave as quietly as I came here;
Gently I flick my sleeves. Not even a wisp of cloud will I bring away

24. Art and Culture connect the peoples of
the World’s great Family in spirit and
purpose
Diversity enhances creativity and
innovation. Great Poetry is for
everyone
Concluding thoughts for us all

25. To emphasise my feelings - I recall being honoured during a visit of a group of
students seeking information on Xu Zhimo, and to have my picture drawn by a
talented member of the group
The same student read the poems of Xu Zhimo together with me - she in Mandarin
me in English. Chinese students read Xu Zhimo with far greater feeling and passion
than I can manage in English

26. It has been a great pleasure meeting you! Thank you for listening.
Sharing thoughts and memories and the wonderful words of Xu
Zhimo has been a great privilege and pleasure for me
Professor Alan Barrell
alan@alanbarrell.com
www.camlg.com