Yu Xiuhua

Template:Chinese name Yu Xiuhua (simplified Chinese: 余秀华; traditional Chinese: 余秀華; pinyin: Yú Xiùhuá; born 1976) is a Chinese poet. She lives in a small village, and it is hard for her to speak clearly and moves nimbly because of cerebral palsy. But she still writes poetry, and she had written over two thousand poems up to January 2015. In 2014, her poem named “I Crossed Half of China to Sleep with You (穿过大半个中国去睡你)” was reposted frequently in WeChat, and this was the first time that her name came into the public eye. In the same year, the poem magazine, a national magazine of China, published her poetry, which made her well-known for the public.

Biography

Life in Hengdian village

In 1976, Yu Xiuhua was born in Hengdian, Shipai, Zhongxiang, Hubei, China. to a family of farmers. Due to footling presentation and hypoxia, she was born with cerebral palsy. The condition makes speaking and mobility difficult. When Yu grew up, she could neither do farm work nor attend university because of her disability. In her second year of high school, she gave up her study and stayed at home out of work. After that, poetry became her best friend.

Before 2015, Yu still lived in Hengdian with her parents, leading a simple life. At home, she did some housework, fed the rabbits and wrote her poetry. In Hengdian's rural setting, Yu did not have audiences.

Family

In 1995, when Yu was 19, she entered a marriage arranged by her mother. Yu married Yin Shiping, who is 12 years older than her. He was not often home, and when they were together, they always quarreled. The marriage produced a son. Yu Xiuhua and Yin Shiping divorced in September 2015.

Yu's parents continued to provid for her until her anthology was published.

In 2016, Yu mother died of lung cancer.

Writing experience

In 1998, Yu Xiuhua wrote her first poem "Imprinting （《印痕》）".

In 2009, Yu Xiuhua started to write poetry regularly. Her poetry includes the theme of her love, affection, life sentiment, her disability and the closed village she cannot escape. [9]

In November 2014, the poem magazine published her poems.

In January 2015, Yu's first anthology of poems “The moonlight fells on my left hand（《月光落在左手上》）” was published by Guangxi Normal University Press. On 28 January, Yu was elected vice chairman of Zhongxiang City Writers Association of Hubei Province. In February of the same year, Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House published her poetry "Still Tomorrow（《摇摇晃晃的人间》）".

On 15 May 2016, Yu Xiuhua's third book "We loved and then forgot（《我们爱过又忘记》）" was published in Beijing. On 1 November 2016, in the third Chinese "Peasant Literature Award" ceremony, Yu Xiuhua won the special award of "Peasant Literature Award", and received 100,000 yuan bonus.

Works

Anthology of poems

• The moonlight fells on my left-hand（《月光落在左手上》）2015
• Still tomorrow（《摇摇晃晃的人间》）2015
• We loved and then forgot（《我们爱过又忘记》）2016

Characteristics of her poetry

Yu Xiuhua’s poetry includes the theme of her love, affection, life sentiment, her disability and the closed village she cannot escape.

She wrote many love poems. As a woman living in the bottom of society and with a defective body, she has a very deep experience of the lack of love. She is not satisfied with the poetic desire of love, but strongly shows the complex and distinctive female subject image.

Her poems are filled with the complex meaning of love and the calling, the disillusionment of love and the realization. Love is what makes the poet question on the existence, truth, death and other metaphysical problems and ontological subject.