Jidi Majia

Jidi Majia, China’s famous indigenous poet, essayist, and cultural activist, was born into a family of Yi nobility on the Daliangshan Plateau in western Sichuan. He graduated from Southwest University for Nationalities in 1984. At the ages of twenty-four and twenty-six, he was the recipient of the highest state honors for his lyrical depiction of Yi customs and the plight of Yi people thrust into the process of industrialization. His poetry and prose have been translated into over fifty languages. He is now one of the leading voices in articulating China’s ecological consciousness.