Over the past several decades, interest in Chinese women poets has flourished. Many female voices lost for centuries have been recovered from libraries and archives, and contemporary women poets in both Taiwan and Mainland China have increased in number. Grace Fong talks about her work recovering the poetry of women writers from late imperial China; Haun Saussy, an editor of _Women Writers of Traditional China_, an anthology of poetry and criticism, reads works by several writers included in the anthology; and Michelle Yeh talks about her book _Frontier Taiwan_ and reads works by two 20th-century Chinese women poets.
Well-suited to National Poetry Month in April.
Well-suited for Asian Pacific Heritage Month.
Fifteen- and thirty-second promos available.
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Piece Description
Over the past several decades, interest in Chinese women poets has flourished. Many female voices lost for centuries have been recovered from libraries and archives, and contemporary women poets in both Taiwan and Mainland China have increased in number. Grace Fong talks about her work recovering the poetry of women writers from late imperial China; Haun Saussy, an editor of _Women Writers of Traditional China_, an anthology of poetry and criticism, reads works by several writers included in the anthology; and Michelle Yeh talks about her book _Frontier Taiwan_ and reads works by two 20th-century Chinese women poets. Well-suited to National Poetry Month in April. Well-suited for Asian Pacific Heritage Month. Fifteen- and thirty-second promos available.
Broadcast History
Originally fed on February 27, 2003
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Dmae Roberts
Posted on April 11, 2005 at 10:05 AM | Permalink
Review of Chinese Women's Poetry
The first five minutes of this half hour is redolent with humanities boring scholar production values. But when the poetry finally starts to come without as much explanation then it starts to become interesting. There are three segments dealing with Mandarin Chinese poetry in the Mainland and Taiwan. It started to come alive for me in the 2nd segment with more poetry and more music. the 3rd section explores contemporary poetry and the women's movement in Taiwan. It's a difficult subject. Most Americans know little to nothing about Chinese history let alone poetry. I commend the producers for tackling this difficult topic. I would have preferred a more exciting beginning with poetry collages or a collage intro so we know that there will be three acts to this piece. The narrator has a good voice but she needs to present these three segments with a hint of excitement. I'm afraid that a lot of programmers will be turned off by the first few minutes and not listen to this intriguing look at Chinese women's history. That's really what this half hour offers --the way the poetry is nearly the only reflection into women's lives. I urge programmers to think about pairing this half hour with another half hour poetry piece for April or with another Asian piece for Asian Pacific American heritage month in May.