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:

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 summer of 2023, Meifu has turned her attention to her own poetry and to poetry from other parts of the world. 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 poems "from Other Journals". Meifu also continues to meet with Chinese poets periodically, in China or overseas, to explore ways to add new poems 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

NOTES FROM A HOSPITAL WARD

• by Qiu Shui


• One keeps watch, the other is watched over.
• Between my mother and me, a fog is getting thicker.
• We can no longer look and recognize each other.
• The fog creates a distance between us,
• concealing us from each other,
• but also bringing us closer more than ever.
• In fact we need this fog,
• even appreciate it,
• because it preserves our alliance
• like two sides of a coin —
• Translated by Meifu Wang & Michael Soper



• 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.

  
  
  

    

  Qiu Shui  秋 水

  b. 1970s
  
  Qiu Shui, poet, literary editor, was born in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. Her poetry has appeared in poetry and literary journals across China. Qiu Shui has published a poetry collection: Sometimes It Is Only a Flash.
  
  秋 水，70后，诗歌编辑。2008年接触现代诗，有诗歌、评论、散文等作品散见《星星·散文诗》《福建文学》《山东文学》《诗林》《牡丹》《中国诗歌》《天津诗人》等刊物，有诗歌、散文作品入选年度选本，诗作获第二届“福州市茉莉花文艺奖”三等奖。著有诗集《有时只是瞬间》。
  
  Read Qiu Shui's poem: Notes from a Hospital Ward.