Chinese poet Bei Dao was exiled from China because of his poetry. He will do a reading of the same poetry today on campus.

Dao, who has been recognized as a potential nominee for the Nobel Prize in literature, is most recognized for his work promoting democracy in China.

“(Dao) was an important figure in the pro-democracy movement of the late 1970s, and his poetry was an inspiration to the students who took part in the Tianamen uprising of June 4, 1989,” said Eastern English professor John Martone.

The Chinese government blamed Dao for the students taking over Tiananmen Square in 1989 because the students involved in the uprising were chanting his poems.

Dao was born in Beijing Aug. 2, 1949, the year that the Republic of China was formed. He founded the School of Mist, a group of Chinese poets that criticize the limits of freedom in the Chinese communist revolution.

Dao is an important figure of the current human rights movement and was an important figure of the pro-democracy movement in China, Martone said.

He has been living in America in exile since 1990, and is currently teaching at Notre Dame.

Eastern is starting an Asian studies minor and hopes to increase interest in Asian studies with Dao reading poetry, Martone said. He added it was important because one-fourth of the world’s population lives in China and it is currently becoming a superpower.

“We discussed his poem ‘Answers’ in my classes today. If you didn’t know he wrote it in 1976, you might think he had written it today,” Martone said. “The poem deals with ‘speaking truth to power’ and refusing to believe the big lies. It speaks out against violence and materialism, against the dangers of selling out.”

The Asian studies department will present the poet as part of International Student Week at 4 p.m. in the Tarble Art Center.