The Chicken Poets, premiered in Beijing in September 2002, is Meng Jinghui's first cinematographic work. The movie has a similar style to his theatre plays: a blend of black humor, bitter poetry, sharp criticism of reality, and deep metaphors. Much of Meng's dramatic technique is carried over from his stage know-how, strengthening the impact of certain scenes in the film.

The Chicken Poets tells the story of unsuccessful poet Yun Fei. Although he appears to be weak and indecisive, a force to be reckoned with stirs in his heart. Lighting upon a small village near Beijing's Capital Airport, he becomes involved in a series of absurd and unfortunate incidents in this quirky village where his poetry brings about many changes.

Yun meets an odd and lonely girl named Fang Fang, who is colorblind and harbors dreams of leaving her small village. Although the pair falls in love, Yun finds Fang's love does not help him find literary fulfillment.

Then one day, Yun buys a pirated CD with magical powers, and the poet becomes famous overnight. His personal life, however, remains unstable. His jovial friend Chen Xiaoyang disappears, and the black chicken on the farm die from a mysterious disease. Yun sinks into depression, and tired of the life. He tosses the CD onto a pile of chicken droppings, helps Fang Fang escape the village, and retreats into the abandoned chicken farm.

The script for The Chicken Poet was written by Meng's wife Liao Yimei, and said to be based on the real-life story of his classmate. The reasons for choosing a village close to the busy airport and on the outskirts of the city, says Meng, was to "represent the nature of developing China" in its integration of urban and rural settings.

Stage lighting techniques, such as the use of fluorescent lighting to create cold, gray-white effects, are used to project the inner emotions of the protagonist onto the outer world.