Bei Dao, whose original name is Zhao Zhenkai, was born in 1949, the year the Communists took power. During the Cultural Revolution he joined the Red Guard movement but soon became disillusioned. After Mao's death and the defeat of the Gang of Four, Bei Dao joined with his friend and fellow poet Mang Ke in editing Today (jintian), probably the best unofficial publication of the 1978 Democracy Movement. He became famous on April 5, 1976 when at a demonstration against dictatorship in Tiananmen Square some of his poems were read. Although he escaped arrest, his works were vilified by authorities.

Bei Dao is identified with the "misty" school of Chinese poetry. He has been in exile since the 1989 revolt in Tiananmen Square. He now teaches at the University of California at Davis, where he lives with the artist Shao Fei and their daughter Tiantian.