Starting with the viral poem "Crossing Half of China to Fuck You," Yu
Xiuhua's raw collection in Fiona Sze-Lorrain's translation chronicles
her life as a disabled, divorced, single mother in rural China.
Yu Xiuhua was born with cerebral palsy in Hengdian village in the Hubei
Province, in central China. Unable to attend college, travel, or work
the land with her parents, Yu remained home where she could help with
housework. Eventually she was forced into an arranged marriage that
became abusive. She divorced her husband and moved back in with her
parents, taking her son with her.
In defiance of the stigma attached to her disability, her status as a
divorced single mother, and as a peasant in rural China, Yu found her
voice in poetry. Starting in the late 90's, her writing became a vehicle
with which to explore and share her reflections on homesickness, family
and ancestry, the reality of disability in the context of a body's urges
and desires.
Then, Yu's poem "Crossing Half of China to Fuck You" blew open the doors
on the patriarchal and traditionalist world of contemporary Chinese
poetry. She became an internet sensation, finding a devoted following
among young readers who enthusiastically welcomed her fresh, bold,
confessional voice into the literary canon.
Thematically organized, Yu's essays and poems are in conversation with
each other around subjects that include love, nostalgia, mortality, the
natural world and writing itself.
