Zhang Zao

[nb 1][1][2] These poets are sometimes said to belong to the "Post-Hermeticist School" (后赫耳墨斯学派; 後赫耳墨斯學派; German: die Posthermetische Schule) of poetry.

[4] He is arguably most famous for his debut poem in his early twenties, titled In the Mirror (《镜中》; 《鏡中》),[5] with the much quoted lines, "once regrets come to mind, plum blossoms fall and cover the Southern Mountain" (只要想起一生中后悔的事 / 梅花便落满了南山).

[6] His style of poetry is described as "enigmatic", "complex" and "elegant", balancing between contemporary techniques and various aspects of classical Chinese literature aesthetics.

[7][8] Being able to speak English, German and French, as well as Russian and Latin to some degree of familiarity, He was also able to write with a certain sort of "multilingualist" property, drawing inspirations from other languages.

[8] Zhang died of lung cancer on 8 March 2010 at the age of 48 at Tübingen University Hospital in Germany.