A soul on wings

Yu Xiuhua enjoys reading. Photos provided to China Daily

China's Emily Dickinson takes the online reading public by storm with her insights and sincerity, and also with her handicap and literary genius, writes Raymond Zhou.

It is an understatement to say Chinese poetry is not in its golden age. The few poets who caught public attention in the past decade are seen as jokes by most－for the sheer lack of poetic sense.

The new year, however, has given rise to a new poet some call "China's Emily Dickinson". She first stood out for her cerebral palsy, and then even critics joined the chorus of praise. "As someone who suffers from this handicap and cannot work as others do, she possesses a gift for the language that others do not. The love without abandon and the hurt piercing the heart have endowed her language with gravitas and power just like grains that are ripe," effused an editorial in China's most eminent magazine for poetry, titled Shi Kan (Poetry Periodical).

That was last September, and its publishing did not gain wide dissemination until it got onto social media. By that time, the new discovery in Chinese poetry, Yu Xiuhua, had been writing for 16 years.

Yu suffered a difficult birth when she was born in 1976 on a Hubei farm. Because she depends on her parents for daily upkeep, she did not go on with her education after graduating from high school. While in high school, her teacher had already noticed her unusual talent in writing.