Poetry floats in the night of Hongkou, another "night of poetry" literature | Shanghai | Poetry
"The Shanghai center Building is stacked layer by layer, with clear outlines and thick air. It reflects light onto the river, and the river is the mirror of the city..." On the evening of August 18, the 2023 Shanghai Book Fair · Shanghai International Literature Week "Night of Poetry" was held at the Shanghai Postal Museum at the intersection of Hongkou North Bund and Sichuan North Road. Salvado Malinaro, an Argentine writer and poet, recited the poem "The West and East of the Pujiang River", expressing the poetic feeling he felt in the past few days when he arrived in Shanghai.
The North Bund is an important witness of China's modern and contemporary cultural exchange with foreign countries. Mao Zedong once bid farewell to French students three times at the nearby Huishan Wharf on the North Bund; Famous scientific and cultural figures such as Einstein, Russell, and Bernard Shaw also landed on the North Bund. The Sichuan North Road area is an important hub for modern and contemporary Chinese literature. Many literary giants such as Lu Xun, Mao Dun, Guo Moruo, and Ding Ling once lived along the Sichuan North Road, giving birth to the Chinese Leftist Writers Alliance, which has influenced the direction of the development of modern and contemporary Chinese literature. The Shanghai Literature Museum, located in Lane 8 of Sichuan North Road, will also be completed next year. The Night of Poetry brings together poets, writers, artists, and numerous citizens and poetry enthusiasts here.
At the beginning of the "Night of Poetry", Ma Tou Qin performer Li Haitao and guitarist Xiang Wei brought Ma Tou Qin guitar ensemble "China in the Lights" and "Night in Ulaanbaatar". The two musicians' performances of Chinese and Western instruments complement each other. Under the leadership of Lin Sha, Executive Director of the Shanghai Recitation Association, Chinese and foreign writers such as Zhe Gui, Vice Chairman of the Zhejiang Writers Association, Tang Xiaobing, Dean of the School of Literature at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Austrian writer Philip Weiss, Lu Xun Literature Award winner Tian Er, writers Lu Nei, Jiang Yitan, Han Songluo, Xiao Er, and Yu Shi, Professor Jin Wen of the Chinese Department at East China Normal University, and architectural designer Tang Keyang took turns to stage, interpreting their understanding and comprehension of poetry through recitation or singing.
Since its establishment in 2011, Shanghai International Literature Week has settled in Hongkou for four consecutive sessions. Before the event, Chinese and foreign guests also visited the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Memorial Hall, witnessing the friendship that transcends national borders and ethnicities. As a key public event of Shanghai International Literature Week, "Poetry Night" aims to build a poetry public activity platform, innovate and promote cultural dissemination, exchange, and mutual learning, further shaping Shanghai's cultural image and influence as an international metropolis, and jointly exploring the century long history, creative status, and development prospects of poetry in the international field of Sino Western exchange.
