In partnership with Paper Republic, Manchester City of Literature is excited to publish poetry in translation from four fantastic Chinese poets.

Paper Republic is a website dedicated to contemporary Chinese literature in translation. They host a blog, events listings and a database of authors, translators and publications. Click here to find out more.

Each poem will be published in both Chinese and English. This project marks the continuation of an ongoing cultural exchange and partnership between Manchester and Nanjing Cities of Literature.

The third in the series comes from Zou Shengnian 邹胜念 (F), and we’re posting it today to celebrate Lunar New Year.

The Other by Zou Shengnian 邹胜念 (F)
translated by Will Spence

When language fails, the other… is born.
The night breeze blows to the other side of silence –
to a riverbank, where each tree is another tree,
branches shifting red and gold, hollowing out
the sun’s afterglow, until the water
sinks into a drifting dusk.
I am walking. The night breeze delivers me to the edge of time,
where the air is filled with half-forgotten kisses,
like ripples spreading out across the water,
erased by a sudden rain.
Perhaps there was no past.
The singers and the drummers on the far shore, other people.
In weary delight, I sleep inside your body,
accepting the freedom of captivity –
hand in hand and heart in heart,
one boat rising and falling inside another.
There are so many reasons to miss you.
But forgetting is more worthy of praise.
All meaning gathers at the cliff’s edge –
and breaks free,
a great white wave of words,
unbroken, but never understood.

 

另外的……

话说不清楚时，另外的……就会诞生。 
晚风吹向无言的对立面，
河堤上，所有的树都是另外的树，
那些枝蔓颤动着，伸进金色与红色之间 
将余晖的心一点一点掏空，直至绵延江水
陷入一种悬浮、流动的晦暗。
我在散步。晚风轻易将我吹至时间的尽头。
空气里，全是熟悉而又模糊的吻，
像江面扩散的涟漪，正被突袭的大雨取消。
也许，过往并不存在。
唱歌的人，在对岸打手鼓的人，都是另外的人。
在一种类似疲倦的兴奋中，我恍若睡在你的身体里，
并接受围困的自由——
手在手里，心在心里，一条船在另一条船里沉浮。
想你的理由无数。但忘却更值得颂赞，
所有的意义，流水般积聚于悬崖——
一道瀑布奔泻，如虎；
一串串白浪如话，连贯，却怎么也讲不清楚。

 

About the Poet

Zou Shengnian, a native of Nanjing, China, holds a Master’s degree in literature from Beijing Normal University. Her works have appeared in publications such as People’s Literature, Poetry Journal, October, and Yangtze River Poetry Journal. She has received several awards, including the Poetry Journal Chen Zi’ang Annual Youth Poet Prize, the Yangtze River Annual Youth Poet Prize, the Purple Mountain Literary Award, the Li Bai Poetry Prize · New Talent Award, and the Youth Literature Award. Her published poetry collections include Catching the Divine Bird, Listening Tomb Figurine, and Small Peace. Her collection Catching the Divine Bird was selected as one of the “Top Ten Poetry Collections of 2024” by the Poetry Network of China.

About the Translator 

Will Spence is a Chinese-to-English translator of fiction and non-fiction. His work includes The Unfilial by Yao Emei (Sinoist, 2024); The Book of Secrets by Xinran (Bloomsbury, 2024); That Which Can’t Be Washed Away by Xu Huaizhong (ACA, 2023); China Adorned by Deng Qiyao (Thames & Hudson, 2022); and The Promise by Xinran (Bloomsbury, 2019), for which he was shortlisted for the Society of Authors First Translation award in 2020.