Internet and computers, such as cataloguing and the “postmodernist”
technique of inserting nonpoetic texts into poems.
The “consecrated” avant-garde and other self-appointed guardians
of highly selective aspects of poetic traditions (either Western or
Chinese) are, as always, trying to halt or slow change, and thereby
protect their positions on the poetry scene, while newcomers and
experimenters continue, as always, to push the limits, seeking support
through appeals to the “people” and common experience and
language.
In the West, computers and the Internet have led to what is
generally called “medium-specific” experimentation with poetry that
synthesizes pictures and film, music and sound, with or without
written characters, through use of FLASH technology. In China, the
lack of finances and technical abilities is the biggest impediment to
this. The poet-philosopher Illiterate文cwas one of the first avant-
garde poets to develop his own Web site with graphics and sound.
Recently, poets have begun to take advantage of Web sites that will
allow them to podcast and make use of streaming technology. One of
the first avant-garde poets to utilize this technology is Yi Hushui
a\, who has placed online a recitation of his latest work—“The
Merits and Faults of Marx”—together with atmospheric music and
accompanying graphics. To date, little has been done in the area of
e-poetry or cyber poetry, as it is called in the West. Moreover, whether
e-poetry “happenings” can still be considered poetry and not a new art
form birthed by and for computers is still subject to debate, and an
issue that is beyond the scope of this chapter.
The Internet in China has opened up a vast new subfield within the
larger field of poetry. Pressures of submitting poetry texts to far-off,
anonymous editorial committees at official and even unofficial publi-
cations are being circumvented by the immediacy of the publication of
poetry on internet forums and blogs. The fact that there are now
published books of Internet poetry indicates that even Internet poets
like to see their names in print and that some factions of Internet poets
are seeking somehow to solidify their highly liquid Internet reputa-
tions via traditional methods. Moreover, some webzines are also still
printed in unofficially published paper editions, and many official and
unofficial journals and periodicals now operate or visit poetry forums
to collect material for publication.
If anything, all around the world the Internet is leading to more
poetry being written and published, in whatever form, than ever
before. New poets and new poetry are emerging everyday and are
waiting to be found by those who have the time and interest to seek
Online Avant-Garde Poetry in China Today 215