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China news tagged with: Li Wei (4)

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Poem: Like A Factory Worker
Here are two poems written by Tianjin based poet Li Wei (translated by M.J.):
Like a factory worker
I cut off my long hair
Short to the roots
Mali Zhe saw it
Patted me and said
Oh my, your head is truly ugly
Like that of a factory worker
I became quite sad
Not for my head
But for the factory workers
For the workers who were leaders in all
I was like a real worker
Glanced in the mirror
The reflection of myself in a desperate state
My hair short and messy
My forehead and face adopted a few new lines
The autumn wind encircles me again
Exposes my ever so trend-setting scalp
As it shivers in currents of cold.
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- February 17, 2008 6:37 PM
Poem: Me, or a Monkey
Here is another poem written by Li Wei (translated by M.J.):
Me, or a Monkey (我，或一只猴子)
To lessen the burden
Of the nation, of the people
I
An average man
A completely inconspicuous person
A person of no contribution whatsoever to society
Consent to give up from now on
My title as a human
From now on I will rapidly devolve
Devolve into a monkey
A monkey who is symbolically primitive
I think, this for me
Is progress in thought and action
An improvement and a rising in the ranks
And also for many who are like me
For those who feel remorse toward the nation and its people
It is a kind of guidance and encouragement
I sincerely hope
That myself as a devolved monkey
Can willingly be leashed on a rope
My master, is a peasant
Whose home land’s has been swallowed by floods
I would agree, upon the city’s empty grounds
In the short time before the police rushes to disperse us
To perform my most famous tricks
Using all kinds of humorous and amusing antics
Emulating and reliving my previous life
So that I can earn a few pennies
For my homeless peasant master
Spare some change for him to settle.
And for those laid-off factory brothers and sisters
Who happen by fate to watch me perform
To their worn out faces and hearts
I can bring some momentary happiness
Of course, the more beautiful hope is that
The homeless peasant
Has a home has land has crops to harvest
That laid-off factory brothers and sisters
Have a stable income and various social security
A civilized lifestyle of concerts movies and leisurely readings
They all live carefree healthy and happy
They all no longer need me, this monkey
If that’s so, then send me to the zoo
I would much rather be with children
And bring joy to their childhood
But different from the other monkeys in the zoo is that
I would never fight with the innocent lively children
For their apple banana or other foods or goodies
I would be attentive every moment
When I am playing with and entertaining them
To not hurt a hair on their bodies
Because such is how I love them, love them
Like a love for every glistening kernel of star in a dark sky
Or a love for every morning lit up by the brilliance of the sun
They are humans, and are also my – this monkey’s -
Hope for tomorrow, for the future
For this priceless, beautiful hope
I would even throw myself without hesitation
In front of those ruby-colored faces of public servants
And those fat-filled brains of the new emerging bourgeoisie, feasting at the banquet of life
And let them publicly crush my skull
And suck clean the last drops of poetry, what remains of my previous life, still clinging to my mind
And in this way, balance the growing insanity
That continues to wound the country and the people, buttressed by power and money
I
Would die without regret
So look
I am just such a monkey
A designated monkey
An inconspicuous monkey
A forever patriotic and public-serving monkey.

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- February 10, 2008 1:07 PM
Is Zhang Ziyi Pretty or Not

The following poem was written by Tianjin-based poet Li Wei, translated by CDT:
Is Zhang Ziyi pretty or not?
Some say she’s pretty.
Some say she’s not.
Liu Ping in my office says she’s not pretty.
However, Zhang Yimou says she is pretty;
Ang Lee says she is pretty;
Jackie Chan says she is pretty;
Wong Kar-Wai says she is pretty;
Henry Fok Ying-tung’s grandson says she is pretty;
Steven Spielberg says she is pretty;
Now even Feng Xiaogang says she is pretty.
Is Zhang Ziyi pretty or not?
My opinion is
Zhang Ziyi is prettier than Zhang Yimou,
Prettier than Ang Lee,
Prettier than Jackie Chan,
Prettier than Wong Kar-wei,
Prettier than Henry Fok’s grandson,
Prettier than Steven Spielberg,
Even prettier than Feng Xiaogang.
But not as pretty
as Liu Ping in my office.
(Cartoon source here)
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- January 30, 2008 10:40 PM
A Morning with a Sunrise
This early spring I went to work at a private school
The school is in a remote suburb
Every morning I have to get up early to take a bus
It is still dark
Street lights are sleeping in the slow wind
The streets seem cleaner than in the daytime
A few elders dressed in very little
Are slowly jogging on the streets
White steam rises from their heads and out of their mouths
As if they are the real masters of the city
It reminds me that I haven’t seen a morning for a very long time
I realize what I have been distanced from these days.
On the bus I put on my headphones,
Listen to Kitaro and Paul Simon
The morning light emerges
Buildings and the shadows of trees quickly slide past
The sun suddenly appears right in front of me
This moment is hard to describe
As if the volume on my headphones suddenly got very loud
The instruments and voices bellowing together
The loudest is the sun in the front
I finally had a morning with a sunrise
The whole day I will spend with children in the warmth.
* Li Wei is a poet living in Tianjin, translated by CDT.
Photos by redheart:

Listen Here, a song from Cui Jian’s Album “Traveler’s Back“
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- January 27, 2008 11:14 PM