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) opened the door for vernacular Chinese to be 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.

21st Century Chinese Poetry aims to carry that tradition further: translating poets from across China for readers who would otherwise never encounter them.

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

欢迎来信，编辑邮箱地址如下：

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 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 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.

WHERE THINGS STAND NOW

For a decade, this website has been a labour of love of the editor, out of devotion to poetry and poets, to bring contemporary Chinese poetry to English-speaking readers.

Since 2023, Meifu has turned some of her attention to her own poetry and to poetry from other parts of the world, but continues to meet with Chinese poets periodically, in China and overseas, to explore ways to add new poems to this website. Please continue to explore the poems translated here over the years. Meifu is also gradually updating the earlier issues of 21st Century Chinese Poetry (No.1 - No. 15) and adding them to this website.

You can read some of Meifu's poems here: Go to Meifu's Poems

POEM OF THE DAY     一天一首诗

THE SECOND ME

• by Huang Guohui


• There is me in the mirror, wearing pajamas inside out
• — someone with an unfamiliar silhouette,
• without a smart profile or special distinction,
• no question it would be swamped in any crowd.
• True, even I myself
• wouldn't pay much attention to it.
• I take two steps back,
• deliberately keeping a distance,
• to take a better look — to see if it slouches
• or shows other signs of wear.
• I scrutinise it the way I scrutinise myself,
• brushing a lint off the shoulder.
• The cotton thread falls like a dream
• and I reach out to catch it.
• It rests quietly in the other space,
• waiting, too, for a pair of gentle eyes.
• Suddenly I feel a little frightened.
• Will this other me be scorched by my fire?
• Indeed there is another me on the other side,
• The one out front matters as much as the one backstage.
• I feel the urge to go behind the mirror,
• to talk to the stranger:
• Hi, hello, there! Hello.


• Translated by Meifu Wang, Michael Soper & Guy Hibbert



• This poem was originally written in Chinese and published in Poetry Journal (Beijing, China); its English translation first appeared on this website and simultaneously in China via WeChat (微信).

  We encourage you to read this poem as an exercise of slow reading.

  以上英译诗的汉语原作, 请读： 第二个我（诗人：黄国辉）

  
  

    

  Huang Guohui   黄国辉

  b. 1975
  
  Huang Guohui, of Tujia ethnicity, was born in 1975 in Enshi Prefecture, Hubei Province. He is a member of the Chinese Writers Association. He has published literary reviews, essays, poems, and other works in newspapers and literary magazines across China.
  
  黄国辉，1975年生，土家族，湖北省恩施州建始县人。现为中国作家协会创作联络部副主任。长期从事文学组织工作。有文学评论、散文、诗歌等作品曾发表在《人民文学》《文艺报》《诗刊》《民族文学》《西藏文学》《西藏日报》等报刊，两获《人民文学》微信平台优秀短评奖。组织编撰的报告文学集《格桑花盛开的地方》获二〇一九年西藏自治区“五个一工程”奖。
  
  Read Huang Guohui's poem: The Other Me.