[1][2] The son of a Sichuan landowner who was executed in the Land Reform Movement, he began publishing in 1948 and became a professional writer in 1952.
He co-founded the poetry magazine Stars in 1956, but was denounced as a "filial descendant of the landlord class" when the Anti-Rightist Campaign began in 1957.
His father worked for the Kuomintang government, and for that reason was killed by the Communist Party during the Land Reform Movement.
He wrote the poem series entitled "Grass and Stars" for the inaugural issue of the magazine, but was criticized soon after its publication.
He wrote a dedicated column entitled "Simplified Characters are Unreasonable" (简化字不讲理) in the Chinese-language edition of the Financial Times.