April in Shanghai

by Hongwei Bao

Shanghai, a city of 25 million people, was under lockdown for two months in early 2022 under China’s stringent zero-Covid policy. The following poem, inspired by a widely circulated online video titled Sounds of April, was written to remember this historical event.

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上海的四月

都说四月是最残酷的时节,
当北方吹来的寒风
清空了大街小巷,
关闭了千门万户。

混凝土路障和金属栏板,
将希望阻隔在外面。
绝望的气息
弥漫在城市上空。

你可看到那些有家不能归的人
脸上无助的表情?
你可听到那些强行被送走的人
悲痛欲绝的哭泣?

上海,你这英雄的城市
你的心已经破碎,
你的眼泪已经流干,
你却拒绝认输。

鸟在天空飞翔,
人行道上青草丛生,
蒲公英在围栏边绽放。
只要生命在继续,希望就还存在。

响雷在远方咆哮,
闪电照彻了夜空。
你知道你会重生,
像是火中的凤凰。

April in Shanghai

They say April is the cruellest month,
when cold winds from the north
empty the crowded city streets,
and shut millions of doors.

Concrete barriers and metal fences
keep hope out of reach.
The odour of despair
fills every inch of the city’s air.

Can you see the helpless look
of those with homes they can’t return?
Can you hear the devastated cries
of those taken away from their loved ones?

Shanghai, the heroic city,
your hearts are broken,
your tears run dry,
but you admit no defeat.

Birds fly high in the sky,
Green grass grows on the pavement,
Dandelions bloom along the barricades,
As long as life continues, there’s hope.

When thunders roar in the horizon,
when lightening brightens the night sky,
You know you will be reborn
like a phoenix from the fire.

Hongwei Bao was born in China and currently lives in Nottingham, UK. He has published four books on queer Chinese history and culture: Queer Comrades: Gay Identity and Tongzhi Activism in Postsocialist China (NIAS Press, 2018), Queer China: Lesbian and Gay Literature and Visual Culture under Postsocialism (Routledge, 2020), Queer Media in China (Routledge, 2021) and Contemporary Chinese Queer Performance (Routledge 2022). Besides being an academic, he also writes short stories, poems, reviews and critical essays. He writes in both Chinese and English and has translated literary works and film subtitles from Chinese to English. His creative work has appeared in Cha: An Asian Literary JournalCuntemporary, Shanghai Literary Review, Room 1000Soundings, The ConversationWrite OnWords Without Borders and Yishu.

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