These are unusual times. These poets are tale-tellers of their world.                  (All rights reserved.)
  • I am waiting in the land of poetry. waiting in hope for its clanging sounds and forceful roaring past! -Ren Xianqing, Issue 1
  • Now we are on board, let's not bring up any depressing topics; no more debates about the pet peeves in those capitalist countries.

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.

This website is maintained and funded entirely by the editor as a labour of love. 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 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.







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 read the poems we translated over the years. Meifu is also in the process of updating the old numbers of 21st Century Chinese Poetry (No.1 - No. 15) and add them to "POEMS 2000-2015" on 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 MOON RISES (from LOVE AND SONGS)

  • by Nie Le

  • The big mountain gently rests on the dark sky,
  • more and more stars appear over the horizon.
  • Birds of all flocks pierce the last twilight with their calls.
  • The sky revolves over a mountain village,
  • and I sit in the courtyard, waiting for my moon.

  • Everything looks softer and warmer now.
  • The earth subsides
  • as the sky comes to life—
  • stardusts mingle with merry nocturnal wanderers.
  • The last sunrays redden the west face of the mountain.

  • This is an enchanting evening.
  • The returning birds, weary of flying,
  • cut across the sky and tug away all the gold dust,
  • just then, my spirit regains its tranquility
  • and my long-awaited moon rises.

  • Translated by Meifu Wang & Michael Soper

This poem was 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 their contents are being gradually added to this website.)

  

  

Nie Le 聂勒

b. 1968

Nie Le was born in Awashan (Mount Awafrom) from the Wa ethnic group in Yunnan Province. He graduated from the Yunnan Ethnic University in Kunming in 1991 and started to publish poems in 1996. He works have appeared in literary magazines across China. He is said to be 'the first poet from the Wa ethnic group to write poetry in Chinese.' He has published two poetry collections: Songs from My Spiritual Pasture (心灵牧歌) and I See (我看见). Nie Le was a delegate at the 2009 Iowa International Writers’ Conference, and is an editor at the Yunnan Ethnic Publishing House in Kunming.

聂勒，佤族，1968年生于西盟阿佤山。中国当代少数民族代表诗人之一，佤族第一个用汉语写诗的人。1991年毕业于云南民族大学，1996年开始发表作品。现供职于云南民族出版社，编辑，副编审。现为云南民族出版社编辑，中国作家协会会员。在《诗刊》、《民族文学》、《青年文学》、《大家》等全国80多家报刊发表诗歌作品，部分诗作翻译成外文向外推介。著有诗集《心灵牧歌》、《我看见》，曾获《边疆文学》文学奖、《云南日报》文学奖，诗集《心灵牧歌》获第八届全国少数民族文学骏马奖诗集奖。

Read Nie Le's poems: My Lost Herd, and The Moon Rises.