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

LAST EAR OF CORN

• by Zhang Fanxiu


• When I noticed it, the upper floret of the corn
• had already mildewed after the rain,
• with speckles as thick as cricket droppings.
• I approached it slowly, down the tricky slope,
• stooping lower with each step.
• Only one ear of corn remained,
• standing in a hollow between mounds.
• “So lonely, it looks like the world’s last shack”,
• like the last standing man in a dugout —
• old and new shoulder patches
• on his brown cotton coat,
• worn over loose pants with calf straps.
• The hand-made shoes reveal only their gaiters
• with laces dangling
• and tied around the calves.
• Has dirt got into his shoes? I can’t see.
• His white waistband, half a foot wide,
• bedazzles my eyes.


• Translated by Meifu Wang and Michael Soper

This poem was originally written in Chinese; its English translation first appeared on this website and in 21st Century Chinese Poetry, No. 15 ; 《廿一世纪中国诗歌》第十五辑 .    (Books are currently out of print, but their contents are being gradually added to this website.)

           

Zhang Fanxiu 张凡修

b. 1958

Mr. Zhang Fanxiu was born in 1958 in Hebei Province, and has been a farmer since graduating from high school in 1975. He published his first poem at 17, but stopped writing between 1988 and 2005. He said:" Poetry has a great appetite and consumes a lot of sustenance. She needs regular feeding, one meal after another, one drink after another. In 1987, my second son was born; that's another mouth to feed, and our livelihood went from difficult to survival mode. Poetry deserved my love, my sons deserved my love, my wife also deserved my love, so in 1988 I decided I must give up poetry and put all of my energy in nourishing the family… Only in 2005 was I able to return to poetry again." (Epilogue, Only the Earth) In 2007, Zhang Fanxiu moved to the remote western region of Liaoning Province, and has since produced hundreds of poems that reveal his unique insight into Nature, the land and rural life. His work has appeared in various major literary publications in China. He has also published three collections of poems: Writings from the Rolling Hills, The Spirit of the Earth, and Only the Earth. Since 2013, Mr. Zhang has participated in the selection of poems for 21st Century Chinese Poetry.

张凡修，1958年生，河北玉田人，中国作家协会会员。1975年高中毕业后一直在家乡玉田县务农。1976年发表第一首诗歌，1988年至2005年中断写作18年。他说：“诗歌是一张嘴。她要吃，她要喝，而且饭量很大，消化很强；吃了上顿要下顿，喝了这碗想那碗。我用我的十年青春都没把她喂饱。1987年我二儿子降生，家里又添了一张嘴, 让我本已捉襟见肘的日子更加雪上添霜。诗歌要热爱，儿子要热爱，媳妇要热爱。1988年实在无奈，我就把诗歌的脖子扎了起来，先集中精神把家里几张嘴填饱… 一直到2005年末，才又把诗歌这张嘴掰开：肉管够，饭管饱，水管足。一天天养护着伺候着诗歌，看着她变白，变胖，变得高大起来。”（后记，《土为止》）张凡修的诗歌刊发于《河北文学》《诗神》《诗刊》《诗选刊》《星星》等百余家报刊，著有诗集《地气》《丘陵书》《土为止》等三部。2010年，被《诗刊》社、《星星》诗刊社联合评为中国十大农民诗人。自2013年开始，张凡修先生参与《廿一世纪中国诗歌》的选稿工作。


Read Zhang Fanxiu's poems here: Gaze, If at All Possible, and Last Ear of Corn.