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
London Blues
Water Droplets
To Melville
To Father
Dirge
Reading Baudelaire Into the Night
Sea Crag

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

SPRING TIDE: A NEW NAME FOR A NEW LANDSCAPE

• by Liu Guanghui


• Metaphor speakers are lame ducks in face of rumors that roar like wildfire.
• Through a thin veil of wispy clouds, sober eyes
• can see the truth of the matter, but patiently wait for the southerly wind
• to pick up, to spark the first green shoot, to lift the world out of its gloom
• — in a small corner first, then the dawning of a new era.
• The wind shifts, the constellations stay course,
• and we shan't be surprised by a sudden sea change.
• The landscape dons a new gown the next morning.
• Last night's snow provides the world its finest touch,
• now the pretty things look even prettier, and the pure
• pure as the driven snow.
• With enigmatic animus, the last snow signs off with a magic brush.
• Beneath it, the country is the same old country,
• but we now call it Spring Tide rather than Frozen Earth.
• Folks show up on the hilltops, wearing hats with fine sashes,
• a hill after a hill, a wave after a wave —
• a feast to the eyes, a wonder to the minds.
• Legends live on through ballads and ditties, in similes and repartees.
• Snowflakes add wings to spring, dusting the earth with flying colors,
• a touch here, a stroke there, and wild splashes that astonish the mortals.
• Throughout time, masters come from down-home places;
• they are the heroes that give new names to new landscapes.
• Translated by Meifu Wang

Originally written in Chinese; its English translation first appeared on this website and in 21st Century Chinese Poetry, No. 13 , 《廿一世纪中国诗歌》, 第十三辑    (Books are currently out of print, but will be reissued with updates in the near future.)

  

Liu Guanghui 刘光辉 (笔名: 爪哇岛）

b. late 1960s

Liu Guanghui, poet and essayist, was born in Shandong Province. He has published widely in various literary magazines and newspapers in China, and some of his writings have been published in school textbooks. In 1993, he was awarded a residency at the Lu Xun Literary Academy in Beijing. He has also published a collection of essays titled Hometown on Paper (纸上的故乡).

刘光辉，笔名爪哇岛。中国散文诗、诗歌学会会员，山东省作协会员，山东省散文学会理事。作品散见《中国作家》等海内外逾千家报刊。出版散文集《纸上的故乡》。