A Century of Modern Chinese Poetry

The most comprehensive collection of modern Chinese poetry in English translation available today

This volume—a completely overhauled and updated version of Michelle Yeh’s 1992 classic Anthology of Modern Chinese Poetry—brings together modern poetry from the Chinese-speaking world dating from the 1910s to the 2010s. Featuring the work of 85 poets from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore, it contains more than 280 poems that span the entire history of modern Chinese poetry. Poets include those regarded as canonical as well as some who have been newly “discovered” or reevaluated in recent years, each selected for their distinctive voice and inimitable style. Also, for the first time, contemporary song lyrics are included as poetry. This diversity of perspectives, along with its geographic reach and expansive timeframe, make the anthology a much-needed contribution to the study of Chinese poetry and world literature. With short biographies of the poets, a select bibliography, and a comprehensive introduction, A Century of Modern Chinese Poetry is a critical resource for students, scholars, and general readers alike.

Michelle Yeh is Distinguished Professor of East Asian languages and cultures at the University of California, Davis, and author of Modern Chinese Poetry: Theory and Practice since 1917 and Essays on Modern Poetry from Taiwan. Zhangbin Li is professor of Chinese literature at Nanjing University and author of Sailing Inside Language: On the Prosody of Modern Chinese Poetry. Frank Stewart is emeritus professor of English at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, founding editor of Mānoa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing, and editor of The Poem Behind the Poem: Translating Asian Poetry.