21st Century Chinese Poetry

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

THE RUIN

by Liu Nian

The locks are rusty, paint peeling,
walls waiting to fall;
therefore, I shall rename this old prosperity RUIN.
A two-wheeled black chariot drives by,
but no one cares if a real doctor or a witch doctor is in it;
therefore, I shall rename the silent crow on the riven post RECLUSE.
The foxtail blocks out the sunset and the temple
that no longer answers prayers;
therefore, I shall rename the three-legged stone lion SELF.
Nettles grow nettle leaves; morning glories grow glorious leaves,
stipa bears tiny white flowers, and loquat will not yield peaches.
The all-pervading seasons take care of everything;
therefore, I shall rename the earth MY LOVE.
Words proliferate and time negates but they won't be able to bury everything,
there will be porcelain pieces to affirm the past.
Around the roots of old chestnut trees, there are always groundhogs busy digging;
therefore, I shall rename this lifeless ruin PROSPERITY.
Those who write about money and palaces can do the same for haystacks.
From the top of a haystack, you see hometown, but the crow sees decay;
therefore I shall rename the golden evening breeze SORROW.
As to the crow that is now stretching its wings and breaking silence,
I shall rename it HOPE.
Translated by Meifu Wang & Michael Soper

Originally written in Chinese; this English version first appeared on this website and in 21st Century Chinese Poetry, No. 14 , 《廿一世纪中国诗歌》, 第十四辑 (Books are currently out of print, but will be reissued with updates shortly.)

Liu Nian 刘年

b. 1974

Liu Nian, birth name Liu Daifu, is a poet and essayist from Hunan Province. He worked as a machine technician in a cement company in Guangdong Province before becoming a full-time writer. After attending two creative writing programs in Beijing that focused on poetry, Liu has gone onto winning national poetry awards. He had published an anthology of poems titled Faraway (远). He lives and teaches in a school in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province.

刘年，原名刘代福，1974年出生于湘西永顺，《诗刊》编辑。著有诗集《远》，2013年获人民文学诗歌奖、华文青年诗人奖等奖项。2014年获红高粱诗歌奖。