Xu Pei


Xu Pei is a Chinese-born German poet, writer, and human rights activist. Born in Sichuan province, she left China in 1988 and studied in Germany. Pei became a German citizen in 2004, and lives in Cologne, Germany.

Life

Xu Pei was born on March 22, 1966 in Kangding City, the seat of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the Sichuan province of Southwest China. Pei has three older brothers and one younger brother. In her childhood, Pei was sent to foster care in Chengdu. When she was 8 years old, her parents were transferred to work in Ya'an and Pei was taken back to her parents.
In 1983, Pei was admitted to the German Department at Sichuan International Studies University and graduated in 1987. Pei later worked in Leshan as a tour guide for German visitor groups.
Pei came to Germany at the end of 1988 and studied German philology and philosophy at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, obtaining a Ph.D. in 1996.
Pei obtained German citizenship in 2004 and currently lives in Cologne. She is a poet, writer, and human rights activist. Pei specializes in German poetry and published essays, commentaries and papers. She is active in radio and TV programs and on Internet. She has worked with Amnesty International and the Society for Threatened Peoples.

Works

Xu Pei's books have been illustrated by German artist Jörg Immendorf, Georg Baselitz and Markus Lüpertz, among others.
yearTitle name in GermanTitle name in EnglishISBN
1993Täglich reitet der Herzog ausThe duke rides every day
2001LotusfüßeLotus feet
2002AffenkönigMonkey king-
2003SchneefrauSnow woman
2008HimmelsaugeCelestial eye

Pei's other German-language publications include: the essay The outlooks of Women in Romanticism Poems published in 1997, as well as the novel The Long Way of the Red Chamber published in 2013.

Awards and reception

Xu Pei won Düsseldorf's Literary Creation Award in 1991, the Literary Creation Award of the Ministry of Culture of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1993, the Doctoral Scholarship of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in 1994-1996, and the Heine Literature Creation Award in Lümborg in 1999-2000.
In an interview in 2011, the German sinologist Wolfgang Kubin commented that Xu Pei's poems were well written and her works of art deserved attention. Kubin said, unlike other overseas Chinese writers who focused on Chinese topics, Pei did not limit herself to Chinese topics.