Tian Jian (T'ien Chien) [real name Tong Tianjian] 1916-1985

Born in Wuwei county, Anhui and began writing when he was seventeen. In 1934, he joined the League of Left-wing Writers and a year later published his first collection, Weiming ji. Wanted by the authorities, he left China for Japan in 1937, but returned soon after to take part in the Anti-Japanese War. Shortly after that he published his long poem Gei zhandouzhe [For the fighters], which confirmed his reputation as "the drummer poet". For much of the war, he worked as a journalist and propagandist, and also published a series of narrative poems and a novella entitled Paiwan tu. After 1949, he was appointed to several official positions, including the editorial board of Poetry magazine. Between 1949 and 1965 he published over ten volumes of poetry, much of it following the guidelines of Socialist Realism and Socialist Romanticism.

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