So-called New Poetry in Taiwan began in 1923 during Japanese occupation.
Some of the movement's earliest exponents wrote in Japanese, others in Chinese;
some wrote protest poems about social and historical events, while others composed
lyric poems to explore their own thoughts, emotions and ambitions. Returning from
her studies in Japan, Shui Yinping (Yang Chichang, 1908-1994) founded the poetry
magazine Windmill in 1933 featuring a surrealist style that injected a crisp dose of
Western avant-gardism into the island's blossoming poetry.
Taiwan has always been blessed with diverse natural and cultural resources,
a result of its unique geographical position and colorful history. Many peoples
and civilizations have contributed to the fascinating mix of interacting cultures on
this island, which was ruled successively by the Ming loyalist Koxinga, the Qing
Empire, the Dutch, and the Japanese before becoming part of the Republic of China
in 1945. At that time, many intellectuals, writers, and poets followed the Nationalist
Government to Taiwan, further enriching the island's cultural ecology and providing
fresh impetus to the New Poetry circle, laying the foundation for elevating Taiwan's
status to the center of Chinese language poetry in the latter half of the 20th century.
1956 witnessed the Modernist movement which advocated the replacement
of "lyricism" by "poetic thinking" and reinvented New Poetry as Modern Poetry.
By the time the Modernist wave subsided and the Modern Poetry debate ran out
of steam, Taiwan had, within an astdfli§hihgly §hdrt period of time, run the whole
gamut of poetic evolution, successfully merging classical and modem, Western and
Chinese influences, creating a style that contained both traditional and innovative
elements. Today, the terms "New Poetry" and "Modem Poetry" have become largely
interchangeable in Taiwan.