To Practice the Rhythms

Three Years
the land, extending itself, makes
one turn after another, spitting
village after village, till it gives
its cold light to the gaping grave...

To Practice the Rhythms is one in a part of an attractive new Chinese poetry series, translated by the leading poet and translator Ouyang Yu. This collection features a number of poems in both Chinese and English from the award-winning writer Shu Cai. The covers are part of a beautiful series by Sydney-based Chinese artist Zhao Baokang.

About the Author

Born in 1965, in Fenghua, Zheijang, Shu Cai was originally Chen Shucai. He graduated with a BA in French literature from the Department of French Language and Literature, Beijing Foreign Languages University in 1987. From 1990 to 1994, he worked as a diplomat in the Chinese Embassy in Senegal and has since been working as a research fellow in Foreign Literature Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Shu Cai won the Medal of Academic Palm Knight in France in 2008. His publications include such collections of poetry as Solitaire (China, 1997) and Short Poems by Shu Cai (Hong Kong, 2004) and his translations of French literature include A Selection of Poems by Pierre Reverdy (China, 2002), Selected Poems by Rene Char (China, 2002), and Selected Poems by Nine French Poets (Shanghai, 2009). In July, 2012, Shu Cai was invited to attend the Winter Translation School by Monash University in Melbourne.