Abstract: In the history of Chinese new poetry since a century ago, Gu Cheng and Hai Zi have become a cultural memory symbol indispensable to contemporary culture. Their similarities in people's memory continue to affect later readers' interest, which gives them an enduring position in the age fragmented with information. However, being in the cultural memory illusion, they gradually reveal how new poetry becomes an object of consumerism and entertainment. At the same time, because of the function of the symbol system called "condensed structure" by Jan Assmann, factors within and without their poetry are mixed together and indistinguishable, which affects the popular judgment and reception. Due to the intentional elevation of their poetry and the deification of their daily life, literature and life experience merge into each other, and the image of the poets is continuously reinterpreted. Acceptance of illusion, however, is not equivalent to deep-rooted identification. The "condensed structure" of Gu Cheng and Hai Zi have to be reinvestigated for an accurate interpretation of their poetry. From the perspective of similarities of cultural memory, there must be "disenchantment" to bring readers back to their poetry, and to bring the poets back to the world.

Key words: cultural memory, universals, functional memory, condensed structure