Photo: Ma Yongbo 马永波 standing in front of Chen Guohuan’s 陈国欢 paintings.
black as definitive in lines—for Chen Guohuan 陈国欢 prose book launching event
黑色在线条中成为定调——贺陈国欢散文集发布会圆满成功
the white is ambivalent until black has curated her spaces
a black suspended swan has chartered white depth
and the movement is white ripples of invisibility
starkness is a gift for black, dynamic contrasts leaping together
like luck falling from a hand but with consequence
and form rises in a dark path the white has navigated for us
6th June 2025,
Response Poetry by Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
黑色在线条中成为定调——贺陈国欢散文集发布会圆满成功
black as definitive in lines—for Chen Guohuan 陈国欢 prose book launching event
白色始终暧昧，直到黑色为其划定疆域
一只悬浮的黑天鹅，丈量着白色的深邃
而流动是隐形的白色涟漪
鲜明是黑色的馈赠，动态的对比跃然一处
如同从掌心降临的幸运，带着宿命
当白色为我们开辟出幽径，形态在暗影中攀升
2025年6月6日，海伦·普莱茨
Photo : Helen Pletts, 海伦·普莱茨 Cambridge 2024. ‘Night-Shining White’, the bilingual poetry of Helen Pletts & Ma Yongbo 马永波 , published by Pete Taylor, Open Shutter Press, due out in 2025.
Rain in Jiangnan 江南的雨
The rain falls all night
from the north of the Yangtze River down to Jiangnan,
connecting the quietly sailing coal-laden barges.
The rain makes you sleep like mud at the lowest depth,
it brings fallen red petals, yet sets some things ablaze
like the changing faces of people in the rain—now sunny, now overcast
The rain lands on the grey tile roofs of the Republic of China era
tapping on the silent green silk window screens of socialites.
It leaps in from beneath heavy bead curtains
making the candle flame flicker behind the dim red gauze bed curtains.
Up the river the rain flows, passing over dark green wine goblets
on the city walls, the willows of Taicheng turn green mercilessly
so too do the willows of Baqiao, green without pity,
no longer easily snapped by those saying farewell.
In a Song Dynasty passenger boat, the rain falls
you take off your hat and chat with the boatman.
In a Tang Dynasty monastery, within the darkness under the eaves
the temple bells sound colder and colder.
In truth, you listen to the rain at the southern foot of Purple Mountain
at Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, the rain sinks empty tombs deeper.
In reality, the rain falls on Arhat Lane, on your wandering middle age,
like words flickering briefly in the dark
as if from Qin Dynasty forbidden books,
no one can speak them aloud—
All rain is the same rain
only those lost in the rain no longer need names.
2016.3.8
By Ma Yongbo 马永波
Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
Note: “Jiangnan” usually refers to the region south of the Yangtze River, a specific concept in China’s geography and culture. Chen Guohuan’s 陈国欢 paintings mostly depict the scenery and customs of Jiangnan. Therefore, the artistic conception of this poem and its profound sense of history quite align with his paintings.
江南的雨 Rain in Jiangnan 马永波
雨下了一夜
雨从长江北下到了江南
连接起静静行驶载着煤炭的拖船
雨让你睡成最低处的泥土
雨带来了落红，也让有些事物更为热烈
正如雨中人的面目阴晴不定
雨落在民国灰色的瓦屋顶上
敲响了名媛们寂静的绿纱窗
雨从沉重的珠帘下跳进来
让昏暗的红罗帐后蜡焰跳动
雨沿江而上，在暗绿的酒樽上传递
雨落在城墙上，台城的柳无情地绿了
灞桥的柳也无情地绿了
已经很难被告别的人轻易折断了
雨落在宋朝的客舟中
你摘下帽子，和舟子闲话
在唐朝的僧舍，在檐下的黑暗中
把钟声听得越来越冷
其实你是在钟山南麓听雨
在明孝陵，雨让空空的坟墓下沉
其实雨落在罗汉巷，落在你漂泊的中年
像一个个词语在黑暗中闪烁片刻
仿佛来自秦朝的禁书
无人能够大声说出——
所有的雨都是同一场雨
只是雨中失踪的人再也用不着姓名
2016.3.8，马永波
Photo : Ma Yongbo 马永波 Nanjing, June 2025
Speech at the Book Sharing Event of Mr. Chen Guohuan’s 陈国欢 Light Rain in Ziyuan by Ma Yongbo 马永波
This is a book to be revisited and dipped into at any time. It is brimming with the open-hearted wisdom of an artist who has lived a rich life and shows profound insights into the relationship between art and life. With a seemingly casual touch, it reveals the true meaning of life. These pearls of wisdom, elevated from concrete experiences, are highly practical and actionable—we can readily apply them to guide our own lives. For example, the author’s innate love for water embodies the symbolism of the “Tao” in its unobstructed flow and constant change. Taking shape with each vessel, free and unburdened, unattached to any single form, this harmony between mind and matter allows one to adapt to all situations with ease.
The author rejects the romantic obsession with “living elsewhere” or “poetry in distant lands,” instead affirming that the soul’s home lies in daily life itself. His harmony with the external world seems untouched by the universal alienation of modernity. He creatively reconstructs classical aesthetic traditions within a contemporary context: his cultural nostalgia does not hark back to the Tang and Song dynasties but roots itself in the present. Amid his busy worldly pursuits, his spirit often converges toward a realm of “emptiness,” using omnipresent Zen mindfulness to balance and resist the pressure of public discourse on individual life experiences. The immersion and introspection into inner space exemplify the attainment of spiritual contentment, transcending material concerns.
The book’s writing is rhythmically balanced, elegant, and profound—conveying depth through brevity, and insight through detail, nearly reaching Du Fu’s realm of “old simplicity” but without his sharp bitterness. A drop of water or a nearby tree can evoke the grandeur of vast landscapes, where “empty spaces become wondrous scenes.” Simplicity begets freedom: by avoiding the pursuit of grand narratives, it sidesteps the sentiment of existential emptiness. Small things carry profound meaning; they belong to realms individuals can control, reflecting greater subjective autonomy. All things in the world can bring joy. Such ease allows one to wander in a realm of clarity, where “everything seen is a painting, and every sound heard is a verse.” Perhaps this is one of the secrets behind Mr. Guohuan’s 陈国欢 enduring artistic creativity.
Photo : Ma Yongbo 马永波 and Xiao Yingjie 肖英杰, a poet from Nanjing, are appreciating Chen Guohuan’s 陈国欢 paintings.
Distant mountains, rivers, dead trees, new branches, birdsong, fragrance of flowers… On the afternoon of June 6, a “scroll” full of Jiangnan poetry was elegantly unfolded at Nanjing Xinhua Omnimedia Art Museum. Artist Chen Guohuan 陈国欢 used his brush and words to bring everyone an aesthetic feast that perfectly integrates art and life. Sponsored by Jiangsu Contemporary Art Creation Research Association, Jiangsu Chinese Painting Society, Jiangsu Aesthetics Society, and hosted by Jiangnan Times, Jiangsu Phoenix Art Publishing House, and Jiangsu Niu Shou mountain Humanities Research Institute, the “Light Rain in Ziyuan ·Jiangnan Elegant Charm-Chen Guohuan’s 陈国欢 ‘Art and Life’ New Book Sharing Session” was successfully held.
Guan Yunlin 管云林(photo above), President and Editor-in-Chief of Jiangnan Times and General Manager of Jiangsu Xinhua Cultural Investment, first delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the organiser: “Mr. Chen Guohuan 陈国欢 , as an outstanding representative of the Jiangsu Chinese Painting Society and a leader of the Jiangsu Folk Artists Association, has always used brush and ink as a boat to ferry between tradition and modernity, condensing the character of Jiangnan literati and the interest of contemporary life in a small space. This exhibition allows us to truly feel the character, knowledge, talent and thoughts of Mr. Chen Guohuan 陈国欢 , and see that the artist expresses his feelings through mountains and rivers, and expresses his aspirations through flowers and birds, turning the blank space on the rice paper into a myriad of atmospheres in the hearts of the viewers. As the organiser, Jiangnan Times will also inject new cultural power into this cultural gathering from an all-media perspective, provide new exhibition methods, and create a new communication model.”
“This is both an art note and a collection of essays.” Zhang Jianhua 章剑华 (photo above) chairman of the Jiangsu Federation of Literary and Art Circles and president of the Jiangsu Contemporary Art Creation Research Association, used the word “unexpected” to describe his feelings after reading Chen Guohuan’s 陈国欢 new book. He believes that “life provides fertile soil for art, and art has the function of comprehensively improving life. First, art has the function of refining and sublimating. Artists use typical techniques to extract representative elements from complex life phenomena and transform them into artistic images with universal significance; second, art has the function of spiritual guidance. The aesthetic value of artistic creation can fill the limitations of material life and make people forget the troubles of life; in addition, art has the function of civilisation construction. Art carries the eternal pursuit of beauty and wisdom of mankind and inherits cultural genes.” Finally, Zhang Jianhua 章剑华 also emphasised the use of AI to empower art and life, and called on artists to attach great importance to this.
Gao Yun 高云 (photo above), the founding vice president of the Chinese Painting Society and the president of the Jiangsu Chinese Painting Society, spoke highly of Chen Guohuan 陈国欢, calling him a leader in Jiangsu’s art industry. He used the three keywords “spirituality”, “cultivation” and “cleanliness” to condense his deep impression of Chen Guohuan 陈国欢 . In Gao Yun’s 高云 eyes, the characteristic of “the painting is like the person” is reflected in Chen Guohuan’s 陈国欢 works as three distinct marks: the first is “the most Jiangnan”, the picture is filled with hazy poetry and literati’s elegance; the second is “the most literati”, the brush and ink flow with a cold and detached bookish aura; the third is “the most poetic”, he is good at using the composition rule of “counting white as black” to give the picture a poetic character. This artistic style is accurately positioned as “poetic landscape”, which coincides with the traditional aesthetic definition of “painting as tangible poetry”.
Host Zhou Xue 周学 (photo above) said: “Don’t paint thick, don’t paint full, don’t paint completely” is Chen Guohuan’s 陈国欢 artistic pursuit, which is consistent with his life attitude of “don’t seek richness, don’t seek perfection, don’t seek everything to be accomplished”. After decades of art, Chen Guohuan’s 陈国欢 artistic style has also changed due to life experiences. He told reporters that he was once dazzled by the “colourful world”. After experiencing a period of “bright red and green” colour’s, he calmed down and found the artistic realm he really loved and yearned for – light.
Chen Guohuan 陈国欢 (photo above) gave a speech: “This book can be said to be an account of my 70 years of life. This activity is an aesthetic action initiated from this book to advocate and promote aesthetic education. Today I have a lot of ‘feelings’ and a lot of ‘thanks’.” Chen Guohuan 陈国欢 said excitedly when he gave a thank-you speech. In his view, life is the first scene of art, and daily life is also a kind of self-cultivation. Cultivation is in the ordinary, and cultivation is in the daily life. What kind of life state will cultivate what kind of spirit. “Smoke and fire” and “bookish spirit” are both needed for artistic cultivation. For him, the best place to paint is not in the studio, but in the living room. “Beauty is in life, beauty is around, and poetry does not necessarily have to be far away.” Chen Guohuan 陈国欢 shared his feelings about art and life with everyone, and also insisted on exploring and finding the “figure” of beauty in art and life.
Chen Guohuan 陈国欢, with ancestral roots in Meizhou, Guangdong, was born in Suzhou in 1955. He graduated from the Chinese Painting program at Nanjing University of the Arts. He served as the Vice Chairman of the 9th Jiangsu Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, General Manager of Jiangsu Aitao Cultural Industry Co., Ltd., and Adjunct Professor at the School of Art, Southeast University. Currently, he holds the following positions: Consultant to the Jiangsu Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Chairman of the Jiangsu Folk Literature and Art Association, Vice President of the Jiangsu Chinese Painting Society, Executive Vice President of the Jiangsu Aesthetics Society, Vice President of the Jiangsu Contemporary Art Creation Research Association, Distinguished Executive Vice President of the Jiangsu Art Industry Association, and President of Jiangsu Zijin Calligraphy and Painting Academy. He is a First-Class Fine Artist and a Senior Industrial Arts Designer.
Link to the Jiangnan Times report（《江南时报》报导链接）：
https://www.jntimes.cn/jnwm/202506/t20250606_8492985.shtml
Live Video（现场视频）：
Chen Guohuan 陈国欢 works（陈国欢作品选）：
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/qQ00VVpc3-UYEivXGwGdbQ
Two Photos: Paintings by Chen Guohuan 陈国欢
HELEN PLETTS 海伦·普莱茨 is a British poet based in Cambridge, whose work has been translated into Chinese, Bangla, Greek, Vietnamese, Serbian, and Italian. She is the English co-translator of Chinese poet Ma Yongbo.
Helen’s poetry has garnered significant recognition, including five shortlistings for the Bridport Poetry Prize (2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024), two longlistings for The Rialto Nature & Place Prize (2018, 2022), a longlisting for the Ginkgo Prize (2019), a longlisting for the National Poetry Competition (2022), 2nd Prize in the Plaza Prose Poetry Competition (2022-23), and a shortlisting for the Plaza Prose Poetry Competition (2023-24).
Her three collections include the illustrated ‘your eye protects the soft-toed snow drop’, with Romit Berger (2022, ISBN 978-9-657-68177-0, Gama Poetry) and two early collections ‘Bottle bank’ (2008 ISBN 978-1-84923-119-0), and ‘For the chiding dove’ (2009, ISBN 978-1-84923-485-6) published by YWO/Legend Press with Arts Council support. Her prizewinning prose poetry features in The Plaza Prizes anthologies, and her eco-poetry appears in anthologies from Open Shutter Press and Fly on the Wall Press. Her work is widely published in journals such as International Times, Vox Populi, Ink Sweat and Tears, Aesthetica, Orbis, The Mackinaw, Cambridge Poetry, The Fenland Reed, Poetry on the Lake, Polismagazino.gr, europeanpoetry.com, Verse-Virtual.org, Magique Publishing, Primelore.com, Deshusa.com, Verseum Literary, Stigmalogou.gr, Area Felix, New World Poetry (Chinese)—four of her prose poems, translated by Ma Yongbo, opened the 35th Anniversary Edition dedicated to prose poetry, December 2024.
Publisher Kate Birch describes her work: “Helen’s very personal poetry reveals her strong connection to the natural world while also laying herself open emotionally. She writes with a thoughtful, mesmerising delicacy on love and death, on joy and need, illness and exhaustion.”
“I enjoy this collection of poems—Helen has restored her individuality into different animals, plants, and even more tranquil scenes, and this process is neither passive nor deliberately planned. Clearly, this new type of relationship between humans and nature not only opens up a new world for us but also places us in the most fitting position within it. The translator’s non-subjective handling of language style, along with the retention of structures like post-positioned adverbs, allows Helen (who can also be seen as the modern human subject) to faithfully present her sense of restoration within the concise framework of Chinese. Their joint effort gives readers the trinitarian nature of the medium, that precious power which expands through the natural, spiritual, and linguistic ecologies—clear, silent, and growing.” (Yan Rong, poet, PhD, professor)
海伦·普莱茨（Helen Pletts）是一位生活在剑桥的英国诗人，其作品已被译为中文、孟加拉语、希腊语、越南语、塞尔维亚语和意大利语。她是中国诗人马永波诗歌的英文合作译者。
普莱茨的诗歌创作屡获殊荣：五度入围布里德波特诗歌奖（2018、2019、2022-2024），两度入选《里亚尔托》自然与地方诗歌奖长名单（2018、2022），入围银杏生态诗歌奖（2019）、英国国家诗歌大赛（2022），获广场散文诗大赛亚军（2022-23）并再度入围该奖项决选名单（2023-24）。
她出版的三部诗集包括与罗米特·伯杰合作的插图诗集《你的眼睛守护着软趾雪花莲》（2022年，ISBN 978-9-657-68177-0，伽马诗歌），以及由青年作家组织/传奇出版社在艺术委员会资助下出版的早期诗集《瓶子银行》（2008年，ISBN 978-1-84923-119-0）与《致训诫之鸽》（2009年，ISBN 978-1-84923-485-6）。其获奖散文诗收录于《广场奖选集》，生态诗歌见于“打开快门”出版社与“墙头蝇”出版社的选集。作品广泛发表于《国际时报》《民众之声》《墨汗泪》《美学》《奥比斯》《麦基诺》《剑桥诗刊》《沼地芦苇》《湖上诗刊》《城邦》《欧洲诗歌》《诗虚拟》《魔法》《原始传说》《德胡萨》《诗界》《理念的圣痕》《菲利克斯领域》以及《新世界诗刊》（中文版）——其中四篇由马永波翻译的散文诗作为开篇之作，刊登于2024年12月出版的散文诗专号（创刊35周年纪念特辑）。
出版人凯特·伯奇如此评价她的作品：“海伦的诗歌极具个人特质，既展现了她与自然世界的深刻关联，又毫无保留地袒露情感。她以一种沉思的、令人着迷的细腻笔触，书写爱与死亡、欢愉与渴求、疾病与衰竭。”
“我享受这组诗——海伦把她的个人性还原到了不同的动物、植物甚至更为静谧的场景当中，而且，这个过程并非是被动发生和刻意谋划的；显然，这种人和自然的新型关系，不但为我们敞开了一个新的世界，也在其中安置了我们最为恰切的位置。而译者对语言格调的非主体性处理以及状语后置等形式的保留，让海伦（也可以看作是现代人类主体）的还原意识得以在汉语的简洁框架中忠实呈现。他们的共同努力则使读者获得了三位一体的介质属性，即那宝贵的扩展于自然生态、精神生态和语言生态中的清醒、沉默而生长的力量。”（晏榕，诗人，博士，教授）
MA YONGBO 马永波was born in 1964, Ph.D, representative of Chinese avant-garde poetry, and a leading scholar in Anglo-American poetry. He has published over eighty original works and translations since 1986 included 9 poetry collections.He focused on translating and teaching Anglo-American poetry and prose including the work of Dickinson, Whitman, Stevens, Pound, Williams and Ashbery. He recently published a complete translation of Moby Dick, which has sold over 600,000 copies. He teaches at Nanjing University of Science and Technology. The Collected Poems of Ma Yongbo (four volumes, Eastern Publishing Centre, 2024) comprising 1178 poems, celebrate 40 years of writing poetry.Baidu Encyclopedia entry on outstanding contemporary poets, Ma Yongbo is listed among the 100 most famous contemporary Chinese poets since the 1920s.
His work is widely published in international journals such as New American Writing，Livemag, Cafe Review, International Times, Vox Populi, Ink Sweat and Tears, Orbis, Cambridge Poetry, Polismagazino.gr, europeanpoetry.com, Verse-Virtual.org, Magique Publishing, Primelore.com, Verseum Literary, Area Felix，Masticadoresusa，Feed the Holy，ONE, Sindhcourier，Lingo Lexicon，Worldinkers，Avantappalachia，Masticadorescanada，Madswirl，Collaborature，Allyourpoems，Homouniversalisgr，100subtextsmagazine，Pandemoniumjournal，Cultural Reverence，Rochford Street Review，Synchchaos，Ezra，Autumn Sky Poetry Daily，Nuthatchmag，Posit，Yumpu，Our Poetry Archive，All Your Poems，Subliminal.surgery，Atunis，Insightmagazine，Lothlorien Poetry Journal，Acheron，Gorkogazette，A Too Powerful Word，Chiron Review，Gas，Chewers，Medusaskitchen，Beatnikcowboy，Dear O Deer!，New Black Bart Poetry Society, Edge of Humanity，Liveencounters，Big Other etc.
马永波出生于1964年，文学博士，中国先锋诗歌代表人物，领先的英美诗歌学者。从1986年起，他已出版原创与翻译著作80余卷，包括9部诗集。他专注于翻译和教授英美诗歌和散文，包括狄金森、惠特曼、史蒂文斯、庞德、威廉斯和阿什贝利的作品。他最近出版了《白鲸》的全译本，销量已超过60万册。他任教于南京理工大学。《马永波诗歌总集》（四卷本，东方出版中心，2024年）共收录1178首诗，庆祝他诗学探索40周年。百度百科关于当代杰出诗人的词条中，马永波被列为20世纪20年代以来中国现当代最著名的100位诗人之一。
All images of Ma Yongbo 马永波 and China copyright © poet Ma Yongbo 马永波
/