“In the Roar of the Machines”: Zheng Xiaoqiong’s Poetry of Witness and Resistance

Abstract

To approach Zheng Xiaoqiong’s work is to confront issues of internal Chinese migration, global capitalism and income disparities, the contemporary Chinese poetry scene, geopolitics, the world economy, feminism, wage discrimination, and worker’s rights—all before one even addresses the most important part: Zheng’s own unique poetics. Although Zheng has published several books and her work has been enthusiastically received in China and in international poetry circles, her poetry has typically been viewed within a very narrow rubric, namely the category of “migrant worker poetry” and the identity-based appellation of “migrant worker poet.” This article approaches Zheng’s work through the lens of translation into English, and situates her and her writing within the larger literary and sociological circles in which she places herself. In so doing, this study attempts to provide a less restrictive and more nuanced view of Zheng Xiaoqiong’s oeuvre and overarching poetic aesthetic.