ABSTRACT
A native of Hunan, Liu Yanxiang grew up in Taiwan. She received her BA in English literature from Taiwan's National Political Science University. She started writing and publishing poetry in the sixties, and her first book of poems, The Dews, came out in 1973. Reading her poems has been compared to savoring fine tea. Noted critic Zhang Mo described Liu's writing style as having a 'light and detached tone, a lucidly fresh style' in Zhong Ling, Contemporary Chinese Muse. Liu herself once said: 'On the content of poetry, I am tired of the pursuit of 'profundity'. Zen is a nameless, liquid sort of book, always changing its shape. Each drop is a word, each cup a line and one ladle makes a chapter you can skim through it or carefully read it. In addition it can reflect the self and other selves it's as handy as a mirror certainly.
