Tu An: Portrait of a poet and translator

By Li Xiao, Chen Boyuan: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, May 31, 2017

Some say that poetry is a much-walked path, now, and everyone would dip their toes in the water just for the sake of it, which is why the latest poems are generally banal. In spite of that, Tu still has faith in the future of poetry. He thinks that the works of masters of new Chinese poetry will also become immortal, including Xu Zhimo, Wen Yiduo, Ai Qing, Zang Kejia, Feng Zhi and, in our own time, Haizi. As long as there are new poems and new talented poets, the bloodline of new Chinese poetry won't be cut off, and these figures will inspire generation and generation of young poets to pick up their pen. While poor works are inevitable, time plays the best judge as to what should be discarded and what saved. For example, Tang poetry fostered the "Big Four of Early Tang" (Wang Bo, Yang Jiong, Lu Zhaolin and Luo Binwang), Li Bai and Du Fu of the mid-Tang era, and Li Shangyin and Du Mu of the late Tang. "Every generation brings new talent, for hundreds of years they lead at what they do. I have hope in modern Chinese poetry. I'm not disappointed, and clearly not desperate. Poetry HAS a future." [Photo by Chen Boyuan/ China.org.cn ]