This undated photo shows poet Zhang Cheng trapped on a dangerous cliff to find inspirations for creating works. (Photo: cqnews.net) Photo Gallery>>>

    

    BEIJING, Feb. 1 -- A drunk poet who risked his life to climb a cliff along the Wujiang River in southwest China in search of inspirations has stirred up heated discussion among the public.

    Zhang Cheng is the alias of a poet who missed his grasp once and almost fell while climbing a steep cliff along the Wujiang River in western region of Chongqing city in the afternoon on Jan. 18. The poet was so fear-stricken then that he held on to a crevice with his left hand and literally "froze" himself at the spot, dare not to move one more inch.

    Zhang's friends accompanying him on the trip spotted him from below and immediately came to his rescue. After two hours of pains-taking efforts, they finally helped the poet to negotiate his way to the ground.

    Zhang, a member of Chongqing's Municipal Writers' Association, has some reputation in the city of Pengshui. The writer, looking for inspiration to create better works, has already climbed over twelve cliffs, with heights from 5 to over 100 meters before this accident. He would usually climb up to the top or suspend himself on the cliffs.

    Being drunk on that January afternoon, Zhang had managed to climb 70 meters up the cliff at the downstream of Wujiang River when he tripped and almost killed himself.

    The writer Zhang had posted some photos recording his cliff climbing experiences online, which had gotten a lot of attention from netizens. Most of the netizens hold negative attitude towards Zhang's behavior.

    Zhang said he didn't mean to risk his life in climbing cliffs but to seek inspirations for writing something deep about the Wujiang River. He said that when he hung himself on the cliff, feelings just came naturally into his mind.

    Some people discouraged Zhang by ridiculing his attempts as trying to be a Chinese spider-man.

    Ran Zhongjing, a famous poet in Chongqing, also said that some special experiences do trigger inspirations for creating great works but security weighs more.

    Meanwhile some climbing amateurs thought Zhang was too careless. They pointed out that it takes professional training and equipment to climb.

    Some other reports talked about poets' special experiences at places that generated inspirations for writing.

    At the end of April in 2005, one Chinese poet stayed about 20 days in a giant "bird nest" he set up in downtown Beijing. He wanted to use his bird nest behavior to provoke thoughts about modern day survival of human beings.

    In September of 2006, another wandering poet Ye Fu, with a volunteer who was one of his female fans, spent 10 days in an iron cage to experience the life of the "lion people" in the wild animal zoo of Qing Dao in eastern China's Shandong Province.

    (Source: CRIENGLISH.com)