The Poet's Soul Pierces the Dipper: The Life of Yang Zai

The Soul of Poetry Pierces the Dipper: The Biography of Yang Zai is an epic, cross-temporal biography of the Yuan dynasty poet Yang Zai, blending history, science fiction, and philosophical reflection. Spanning the thread of civilization from the Song and Yuan dynasties to the interstellar age, the book follows the legacy of poetry as it traces Yang Zai’s many facets as a poet, scholar, official, and cultural custodian. Breaking beyond the bounds of traditional biography, the work combines dual storylines and the real with the imagined to reconstruct the cultural history of the Yuan dynasty. It explores the survival and renewal of Chinese civilization across ethnic groups, eras, and even interstellar contexts. The work not only reimagines Yang Zai’s place in history, but also uses poetry to question the permanence of civilization and the future possibilities of combining humanistic values with technology. It is a pioneering literary and cultural thought experiment.