Twenty-Five Contemporary Xian Poets

Xian, in Shaanxi Province, was the capital of thirteen historical Chinese dynasties, beginning with the Qin dynasty of the First Emperor more than two thousand years ago. In the Tang (618-907 CE), lyric poetry flourished, with the city home to the likes of Li Bai and Wang Wei. As a modern metropolis, it is once again the domain of a rich literary circle. However, the twenty-five poets in this collection confront not only the age-old vacillations of romance and career but also how to find expression through free verse, the weight of the cultural past, and the dramatization of ecological and societal change.