XIEZI (WEDGE) 001:[i] On the night of July 16, 2007, I received an email in Chinese from River, a poetry magazine editor in China, in response to my query about a submission. This one sentence is worthy of English translation in its entirety: ‘(you) can submit (your) work but (you should) try your best to guarantee that (it) does not involve sex and politics.’[ii]

Xiezi 002: Early this year when I came back to Melbourne via Guangzhou, a local poet gave me a book of poetry with two beautifully designed bookmarks. I listened to his story with resignation: two poems removed from the collection appeared on the bookmarks as a compromise.