Shang Qin (Shang Ch’in) was born in China in 1930 but has lived in Taiwan since the late forties. He was one of the first Chinese-speaking poets to write prose poems. Critics tend to describe his poetry as surrealistic, but when directly asked if he is a surrealist, he replies with all the ambiguous defiance of a surrealist: “I refuse to admit or refute this assertion.” His poetry has been translated into English, Dutch, French, and Swedish.

photo of Shang Qin by Zheng Linzhong 鄭林鐘