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Poetry occupied a privileged position in China’s cultural production throughout history. Late Qing intellectuals initiated the quest for a lyrical voice that would adequately intonate Chinese modernity, and soon after the so called “new poetry” (xin shi) successfully challenged the premodern canon. Authors of modern Chinese poetry experimented with hybrid poetic forms inspired by new world literary trends and the modernization movement of May Fourth, 1919, which articulated the determination of progressive intellectuals to leave behind the shackles of ancient Chinese poetic conventions.

While every phase of modernization had its particular poetic forms and lyrical articulation, the most recent stage resonates with entangled local and global concerns, such as intense environmental anxieties, massive socio-political transformations, and a genuine interest in the afterlife of ancient Chinese aesthetic forms. Even though today’s avantgarde poets no longer occupy the cultural centre and often distance themselves from the political realities steered by nationalism, culturalism and the return of Cold War divisions, they however frequently revisit the past in search for a fresh outlook while holding on to their poetic language of self-reflection and social critique.

Topics to be explored:
Eco-Aesthetics; Formal Crossover (Classicism, Film, Theater, etc.); Activism; Multiple Realities; Liquid Boundaries

 

Public Events Related to the Workshop:

Film Screenings & Panel discussion:
Umbrella Dance for Hong Kong (Ben Wong, 2020) and The Garden of Forking Dreams (Ben Wong, 2021)

Dean Anthony Brink, Horizons of the Rising Sun (2017)

Public Reading Performance: Recent Poems from Participants

Akademic guests:
Prof. Maghiel van Crevel (Leiden University) & Prof. Henrieke Stahl (Universität Trier) - keynote speakers

Prof. Nick Admussen (Cornell U), Prof. Dean Brink (National Yang Ming Chiao Tong University, Taiwan), Prof. Frank Kraushaar (independent scholar), Dr. Andrea Lingenfelter (University of San Fransisco), Prof. Liansu Meng (The University of Connecticut), Dr. Chris Song (University of Toronto), Prof. Mary Wong (Lingnan University), Prof. Zhiyi Yang (Göthe-Universität Frankfurt), Prof. Michelle Yeh (University of California, Davis)

Dichter*innen:
Zhai Yongming (VRCh), Zheng Xiaoqiong (VRCh), Chen Dongdong (VRCh), Yu Jian (VRCh), Tammy Ho (Hongkong)

Weiter Informationen zur Veranstaltung finden sie hier