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Missing Voices
is an anthology of
English
translation of
some 100
contemporary
poems written by
China’s 21st
century writers
who grew up
after the 1989’s
student
uprising. This
anthology
attempts to
uncover the
missing voices
of China’s
contemporary
generation. At
a time in
Chinese history
when economic
progress is a
global
obsession, I
attempt to bring
to western
readers in
English
translation
another
important part
of contemporary
Chinese society
– its poetry and
art.
Destitute is not
a word found in
any description
of China today,
with its
stratospheric
economic growth
threatening to
upset the world
order. Certainly
the adjectives
that apply to a
success story of
this magnitude
would all seem
to be antonyms
to “destitute,”
and most of the
books and press
devoted to the
boom are replete
with one
hyperbole for
prosperity. Yet
material comfort
was also the
hallmark of the
era that the
poet Hölderlin
characterized as
“destitute,” a
period when he
perceived that
Europe was
suffering from a
decline that had
nothing to do
with economics.
In his view,
night had fallen
after Herakles,
Dionysos, and
Christ “left the
world.” A bleak
echo of his
anxiety has
crept into the
poetry and art
being made in
the midst of the
fastest growing
nation in our
own time. It
poses a question
that offers a
new variant on
Hölderlin’s
timeless
warning: Has
Confucius left
China?
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