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

AUTONOMOUS CAR

• by Li Ziguo


• From home to work daily,
• it takes forty or fifty minutes by car.
• Hand on the wheel and foot on the pedal,
• I maneuver the vehicle, the brainchild of a Sino-Japanese joint venture,
• on the increasingly disrepaired roads
• in order to renovate my life.
• Distracted by thoughts, I notice a hesitation in the speed of the vehicle.
• The pilot seat pulls and tugs my sciatic nerves.
• Its magnanimous backrest raises my egotistic vision;
• its run-of-the-mill wheels spins into someplace extraordinary,
• and they are smirking, and most likely peeping,
• this four-wheel gadget with a noble name called AutoNavi.
• I have a pen therefore I am sovereign, whereas this vehicle has autonomy because it has hyperpersonal intelligence.


• Translated by Meifu Wang

This poem was originally written in Chinese; its English translation first appeared on this website.

  

Li Ziguo 李自国 (西村)

b. 1959

Li Ziguo was born in Fushun, Sichuan Province. He serves as the senior editor at The Stars Poetry Journal (Sichuan's provincial poetry magazine), and has received an honorary medal for his thirty years of service in China’s periodical publishing. He has published several poetry collections, including The Third Eye, Salt of Life, Walking Forest, My Soul’s Book 2018–2019, The Crow’s Wall, and The Herdsman’s Muse (bilingual Chinese-English edition). He has also won prestigious literary awards, and have been translated into multiple languages. He is a member of the China Writers’ Association and a council member of the China Poetry Society. He lives in Chengdu, Sichuan.

李自国，笔名西村，四川富顺人。诗人，一级作家，《星星》诗刊编审，获国家从事期刊出版工作30年荣誉奖章。著有诗集《第三只眼睛》《生命之盐》《行走的森林》《2018一2019我的灵魂书》《骑牧者的神灵》（中英文）《乌鸦的围墙》等。作品入选百余种选集，获各类文学奖数十次，被翻译为多种文字。中国作家协会会员，中国诗歌学会理事，四川省诗歌学会副会长，四川省文艺传播促进会副会长，四川省青年文学协会副会长。

Read Li Ziguo's poems: Autonomous Car, Frost.