Michelle Zhang
on translating Yu XiuHua
Chinese poetry, both ancient and modern, is characterized by a higher tolerance for vagueness that romance languages do not have as much of. Some of this tolerance is translated here, as seen in certain absences of personal pronouns. I have also elected not to explain some terms, such as the “dead-knot,” in my approach to retain some of the foreign aspects that come from reading a translation.
about the author
Yu Xiuhua is a Chinese poet from Hengdian village in Hubei, China. She has cerebral palsy and writes about themes of love, disability, truth, place and death. She rose in popularity in 2014 through online media and the Chinese literary magazine Poem.
about the translator
Michelle Zhang is a student at the University of Pennsylvania double majoring in Classics and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. She grew up in Shanghai and writes poetry, prose, and essays.
