Commuters on Shanghai's metro now can get a little English culture on their way to work with a display of poems by famous British writers, which began on Wednesday.

 

Visiting London Mayor Ken Livingstone officially kicked off the "Poems on the Underground" in Shanghai Tuesday, which is part of the efforts to strengthen cultural exchanges between Shanghai and London.

 

Posters showing the English and Chinese translations of the British classics include Auguries of Innocence by William Blake, Daffodils by William Wordsworth, Butterfly by Michael Bullock, and The Blue Boat by Kathleen Jamie.

 

In February, four poems of three ancient Chinese poets Li Bai, Du Fu and Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), were posted in the metro of London.

 

"Poems on the Underground" was launched in London, 1986, with the aim to bring poetry to a wider audience.

 

"We hope to bring poetry from libraries into daily life with such events," said an official with the Cultural and Education Section of the British Consulate General in Shanghai.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2006)