THE JOURNAL OF 21st Century Chinese Poetry 《廿一世纪中国诗歌》is an independent journal committed to showcasing the best of contemporary Chinese poetry. We exist to discover and celebrate poetry and the Chinese poets who write them with the largest possible Anglophone audience.

In the early twentieth century, The May Fourth Movement (1917-1921) launched an era where vernacular Chinese was for the first time accepted as a legitimate poetic voice. This was followed by an outpouring of verse written in 'plain speech' by people from all walks of life in contrast to the classical, elitist poetic forms of imperial China.

A century has now passed since these 'new' poetic voices emerged. Vernacular poetry has continued to blossom in poetry journals and in cyberspace.

The editor and translators at 21st Century Chinese Poetry are committed to translating poets from across China who would otherwise remain virtually unknown to Western audiences.

Please send all enquiries, suggestions and corrections regarding 21st Century Chinese Poetry to Meifu Wang at:

editor@modernchinesepoetry.com.

Founder and Editor
Meifu Wang



A TASTE OF CONTEMPORARY CHINESE POETRY

From 2012 to 2015, our team worked with a group of Chinese poets in China to introduce contemporary Chinese poetry to the wider world. We translated the recent works of 66 contemporary Chinese poets into English and broadcast them on this website and in print (ISSN 2166-3688).

From 2018 to 2022, we further collaborated with China's Poetry Journal (诗刊) to bring a selection of their monthly publication to the world-wide readers. Poetry Journal (Beijing, China）was founded in 1957, with an emphasis on the publication of contemporary Chinese poetry as well as classical poetry by living poets. It is the widest-circulated poetry journal in China.

Circulating more than sixty years, the journal has brought together and introduced a great number of poets, reflecting many of the sweeping changes that the country has witnessed over that period.

A REPOSE

Since summer of 2023, Meifu has turned her focus to her own poetry and to poetry from other parts of the world. Please continue to visit this website and look through the poems we translated over the years.

or read some of Meifu's poems:
Dirt Road
Water Droplets
Sea Crag
To Melville
To Father
Dirge
Reading Baudelaire Into the Night

We are in the process of updating and re-printing the old numbers of 21st Century Chinese Poetry (No.1 - No. 15). Please stay tuned.

POEM OF THE DAY     一天一首诗

NOVEMBER

• by Bangji Meiduo


• In November, winter charges ahead tirelessly on all fronts.
• New snow piles on old snow, reshaping heaven and earth.
• In November, snow falls on fallen pine needles;
• they will stay prim on the mountain until past spring.
• In November, the setting sun on skeleton trees attracts a following.
• The breeze lazes about the Sun Moon twin lakes, lagging behind high clouds.
• In November, the sickle moon waxes as the clouds thin and break.
• A few deaths gently remind us of life's odd caprice and its inevitable outcome.
• In November, I want to walk out from the mountains reeking of annihilation.
• The tender green under the fallen leaves hints at its effort to take flight.


• Translated by Meifu Wang, Michael Soper & Guy Hibbert

Originally written in Chinese and published in Poetry Journal (Beijing, China) ; this English version first appeared on this website and simultaneously in China via WeChat （微信）

  

Bangji Meiduo 邦吉梅朵 (祁发慧)

b. 1980s

Bangji Meiduo, poet and scholar, comes from Amdo Region, Tibet. Her poems and literary criticism have appeared in various literary magazines and journals in China. She has a Ph.D. in Literature.

邦吉梅朵，又名祁发慧，安多宗喀人，文学博士，在《民族文学研究》《青海社会科学》《作家》《星星·诗歌理论》《中国诗歌评论》《大家》刊物等发表文学批评及学术论文三十余篇，偶有诗文见诸文学杂志。