By Carlee Shimek
For poet enthusiasts, Chinese cultural enthusiasts, and enthusiastic people in general, come and experience the magnificence that is Chinese poetry at “A Celebration of Chinese Poetry and Music.” This Sunday, December 18 from 2-3:30pm at Artisan Forge Studios, a culmination of Chinese poetry, local poetry writers, and an accompanying Chinese musical group will be hosted by local tea (and of course poetry) enthusiast Xin Obaid.
“I want to show the difference between Chinese poetry reading and American poetry reading,” Obaid said. “For myself, I feel Chinese poetry is more musically than English. It’s really a performance.”
Xin Obaid, event organizer
Obaid owns a tea shop—MingXin Chinese Cultural Exchange—in Artisan Forge Studios, teaches a Chinese language class at Artisan Forge, and is herself a popular poet and writer published in China. The event is also an early celebratory exchange for the upcoming Chinese New Year on January 23. Obaid said that every time Chinese New Year comes around, she has wanted to do something with the Eau Claire community in celebrating it. Now, her opportunity has arrived.
““I just want to let Eau Claire people know more about the Chinese culture.””
“I just want to let Eau Claire people know more about the Chinese culture,” Obaid said.
Two long-distance travelers, friends of Obaid, will be coming to Eau Claire, purely for this event: Fan Xiaoming all the way from China and Dr. Li Xiaohong from New York. They love poetry that much and are excited to showcase it with Obaid.
Local writers, Karen Loeb, Yvette Flaten, Sara Bryan, SZ Putnam, and BJ Hollars will all be reading some of their own work along with their favorite Chinese poem.
In addition to poetry, a Chinese musical group from Minneapolis will be performing. Music and Chinese poetry are often intermingled, Obaid shared with me over a delicious cup of tea made from her family’s tea farm back in the Hunan province of China. This tradition will be continued during Sunday’s show.
Xin Obaid
In addition to contemporary poems, readers will also feature Chinese poetry from the Tang and Song Dynasties. This event truly has it all: local poetry, ancient Chinese poetry, and music—a culturally rich way to spend a Sunday in Eau Claire.
“If you want to learn or know Chinese culture, or special Chinese poetry, you need to come here, it’s totally different [from] American culture and American poetry reading,” Obaid said. With 5,000 years of history residing in the vastness of Chinese culture, it is certainly worth it to promote and showcase it to the world. Obaid is bringing her Chinese home to her second home of Eau Claire.
As far back as the Song Dynasty, a saying has persisted throughout Chinese history: “firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea”. It is the Seven Necessities, where if you have these seven things when you wake up, you will have a decent day. Obaid would like to add one more thing to the list: poetry.
“[When] I moved here from China, some people told me Eau Claire is a diverse city, that make me love Eau Claire more. So then I thought if it’s that way, then we shall share every kind of culture.””
“I feel honored to share my motherland culture,” Obaid said. “[When] I moved here from China, some people told me Eau Claire is a diverse city, that make me love Eau Claire more. So then I thought if it’s that way, then we shall share every kind of culture.”
To learn more about the event, go to Chippewa Valley Writers Guild.