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Against is a sizable co-production by Sun Wenbo and Xiao Kaiyu. Its name could alternatively be rendered in English as Opposition. Especially in the first few years after June Fourth, connotations of 反对 ‘be against, oppose’ would have been politically sensitive, meaning potentially dangerous for its makers, even though the journal features an eloquent disclaimer explaining that what its makers were “against” is, basically, laziness and easy satisfaction in poetry, in their ongoing struggle to pursue Paul Valéry’s ideal of “pure poetry”. This may help explain why Against has an entirely white cover. Its potentially controversial title only appears on the first (inside) page, accompanied by the English caption in two of the later issues.
After a first issue in February 1989, ten issues appeared on an almost monthly basis throughout 1990, followed by a few more in 1991 and 1992. At the time – that is, during the cultural purge after June Fourth – Sun and Xiao saw their active involvement in unofficial journals as their bounden duty, in order to keep the avant-garde alive.
Issues # 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 are specials on Xiao Kaiyu, Ouyang Jianghe, Rainer Maria Rilke (in Zhang Shuguang’s translation), Sun Wenbo, Chen Dongdong, Xi Chuan and Ezra Pound (in Xi Chuan’s translation), respectively.
The journal’s above-average attention to foreign poetry is also visible in its inclusion of translations of Tomas Tranströmer (by Zhang Shuguang) and John Ashbery (by Shen Rui), as well as more Pound (now by Xiao Kaiyu).
Text in simplified characters (Jiantizi)