This year marks the 90th anniversary of Chinese new poetry, a medium which has undergone sweeping changes in the era of globalization, moving from an elite-dominated art to a more diverse form. With technology and modern entertainment taking center-stage, traditional poetry has taken a secondary place, though technology has also publicized folk and online poems. Chinese new poetry sprang from the May 4th Movement in the last century.

The Ninety Years Evolution of Chinese New Poetry

Modern poetry is part of China's 90-year-old New Culture Movement. Chinese classical poetry was a product of feudal society, with the unity and pattern of the poems representing the order of the hierarchical society. However, the feudal society was broken by the invasion by the Western powers, and new themes of science and democracy began to impact Chinese poetry. During the 90 years of the New Culture Movement, there have been three especially important communications with the world: the May 4th Movement, the foundation of the People's Republic of China, and the reform and opening up.

May 4th Movement Period

Poetry was revolutionized after the May 4th Movement when writers try to use vernacular styles closer to what was being spoken (baihua), rather than previously prescribed forms. Hu Shi published the first new poetry, "Butterfly," in 1916. Guo Moruo's poetry anthology, "The Goddesses," was regarded as a masterpiece of Chinese new poetry, which was influenced by poets like Goethe and Whitman. It laid the foundation for romantic Chinese poetry. New poets like Wen Yiduo, Xu Zhimo, Ai Qing, and Feng Zhi sought to break the mold in the early 20th century by using Western techniques.

However, Chinese poetry returned to traditional Chinese forms following the Japanese invasion, when a national spirit was rekindled. He Jingzhi of Bai Mao Nv, Li Ji of Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang, and Guang Weiran of the Yellow River Cantata were representative communist poets.

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