ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the problem of the representations of nature in China within the temporal interstice of the 1970s. China has been in the international spotlight due to worrisome environmental damage and its environmental strategies/policies since the 1978 economic reform. It explores link between literature and 'nature' in contemporary China which have not been addressed in the ecocritical scholarship through a reading of the works of "Obscure Poetry." "Obscure Poetry" produced much poetry that would greatly influence Chinese literature in the post-Cultural Revolution era. An ecocritical approach offers an entry point to understand the influence of "Obscure Poetry" within the wider environmental consciousness and discourse in contemporary China. Scholars in literary studies and ecocritical studies have generally overlooked the role of "Obscure Poetry" in forming and contributing to environmental discourses in China. In "Obscure Poetry" natural images are commonly used, whereas in "the Newborn Generation" there is no obvious empathy towards nature.
