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

KELP IN THE CORNER OF THE HOUSE

• by Wang Xiaoji


• This wrinkly fabric looks derelict, even more so
• once the wind has dried it.
• The salt crystals, pilfered back from sunlight,
• are very particular about whom they bond with.
• I grab a handful of the dried kelp
• and feel the salt grains fall to the ground.
• There is more salt here than in all the water churning upriver.
• Bundled and tucked into a corner of the house,
• its spirit quickly turns eternal, dormant through the daily humdrum
• until one day, shaken loose over its native water,
• the seeds multiply fiercely, expanding its domain.
• Taking cues from the fishermen, I no longer scoff
• at the knotted fronds, scraggly with frosted stains.
• Too salty, or not salty enough? To each his own.
• This glittering sea, roaring with iodized spray,
• surges and shakes up the Aojiang River Estuary…
• Translator’s note:
• *Aojiang River meets the Eastern Sea in Fujian Province, Southeast China.


• Translated by Meifu Wang & 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.

  以上译文之原版漢语诗歌, 请读： 屋角海带 （诗人：王孝稽）

  
  

    

  Wang Xiaoji 王孝稽

  b. 1975
  
  Wang Xiaoji comes from Cangnan County, Zhejiang Province. He is a member of the Chinese Writers' Association and a resident writer at Zhejiang Academy of Letters. He has won several literary prizes in China and published two poetry collections: Tales from the South and On Leave.
  
  王孝稽，浙江苍南人, 中国作家协会会员，浙江文学院签约作家。出版诗集《南方叙事》《休假书》等。曾获2014年浙江青年文学之星优秀作品奖，入围第五届闻一多诗歌奖和2013、2015年度华文青年诗人奖。
  
  Read Wang Xiaoji's poem: Kelp in the Corner of the House.