Chen Nianxi (Chinese: 陈年喜; born February 5, 1970) is a Chinese poet from Shaanxi Province, whose work is categorized within the genre of "migrant worker literature."
Biography
Chen Nianxi was born in Danfeng County, Shaanxi. After graduating from high school in 1987, he married and worked as a farmer. In 1999, he left his hometown and began working as a miner, laboring for approximately 15 to 16 years across China, particularly in the Qinling mountain range. He worked as a blaster in coal and gold mines. Alongside his labor, he began writing poetry in 1990 and published poems in local publications.
In 2011, with the rise of microblogging in China, his poetry reached a broader audience. His work attracted the attention of film critic and producer Qin Xiaoyu, who profiled Chen in the 2015 documentary The Verse of Us.
In 2015, Chen was forced to stop working as a miner due to occupational disease. In 2016, he was awarded the Laureate Worker Poet Prize. His life and poetry were featured in a 2018 documentary titled Demolition Work about migrant workers. In 2021, his story was covered by The New York Times, which described him as a "migrant worker poet" giving voice to China's often-invisible laborers.
Notable Works
Chen is best known for his poem Explosion Chronicle (《炸裂志》), written in late 2013, which vividly depicts the dangers and harsh realities of underground mining. His poetry has been translated into English and published in various international literary journals.
Themes
Chen Nianxi's poetry chronicles the grueling realities of underground mining, rural-to-urban migration, and the lives of China's working class. His work is considered representative of "migrant worker literature" (打工文学), a genre that emerged in China to document the experiences of the country's vast migrant labor force.
