In contrast to the clipped, image-based style of Bei Dao, Duo Duo tended to use longer, more flowing lines, and paid more attention to sound and rhetoric. Some of his poems border on the essayistic, such as the 1984 Lessons also translated as Instruction (诲教), which spoke for China's "lost generation" as much as Bei Dao's Answer.
In contrast to Bei Dao's concise, image-based style, Duo Duo favored longer, more flowing lines, and gave greater emphasis to sound and rhetoric. Some of his poems approach essayistic forms, such as the 1984 "Lessons" (诲教), which mirrored China's "lost generation" just as much as Bei Dao's "Answer."