China is, they say, a “nation of poetry.” Though poetry has been and remains important to the Chinese cultural identity, the statement can also be interrogated: what is “China”? what is a “nation”? what indeed is “poetry”? And what does translation have to do with Chinese cultural identity as defined through poetry? Translation into Chinese was important for the development of Chinese poetry in many eras, as well as in the crisscross of poetry and identity formation in Sinophone regions outside China. Translation of Chinese poetry has also been important for the development of poetry in other languages, even as translation remains a basic practice for philological studies of Chinese poetry. Then there is the issue of translation and poetry written in classical Chinese/literary Sinitic by speakers of Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese. What happens to poetry, and what happens to Chinese cultural identity, throughout these transformations? What can these facets of translation, into and out of Chinese, within and without China, say to each other?

This seminar, organized by the editors of the forthcoming journal Yì: Poetry and Translation, invites abstracts concerning the nexus of Chinese/poetry/translation—each understood broadly, inclusive of the Sinophone and Sinitic/Sinographic, from ancient to contemporary, in all forms and genres. Potential topics include but are not limited to:

1. Poetics, history, ideology: How has Chinese poetry been translated? How should it be? How has poetry been translated into Chinese, and how should it be? What about classical Chinese poetry translated into modern Chinese?


2. Poetry translation and canonicity: Does translation reiterate the centrality of the Chinese poetry canon, or does it rather challenge canonicity in the target language?


3. Poetry translation and politics: What are the politics of Chinese poetry translation, from any era or area? Does translation reiterate or redress center-periphery relations between China and other countries, kingdoms, and regions, modern or premodern, including Sinophone/Sinographic regions? What happens when poetry translation confronts exile?


4. Self-translation and multilingual poetry: what are the similarities and differences in poetry self-translation, compared to multilingual poetry bringing Chinese together with other languages in the same poem? Does it matter, aesthetically or politically, if the poet is a native speaker of Chinese?


5. Poetry translation and gender: how does gender operate in the nexus of Chinese/poetry/translation? Can translation push against the Chinese poetry tradition’s patriarchy?


6. Poetry, translation, and humanism: in the age of AI and computer-assisted translation, what is the role and what is the significance of poetry translation?

Papers from accepted abstracts will be considered for publication in Yì: Poetry and Translation (planned launch: Spring 2026).