The 9th Xu Zhimo International Poetry and Arts Festival has kicked off at King's College, Cambridge.

Poets, artists and scholars from Britain, Europe and China have joined this arts exchange festival. Seminars, exhibitions, and book reading are being held in King's College in the world-famous English city.

According to Zilan Wang, the festival organizer, this year's event aims to celebrate the opportunities to meet in person again and embrace the profound beauty of human connection through the power of poetry and arts.

Since 2014, the Xu Zhimo International Poetry and Arts Festival has become a revered platform for poets, artists and scholars from around the world to gather and celebrate the beauty of language, culture, and art.

Xu Zhimo was a great Chinese poet who studied at King's College in the 1920s. He made many friends there among leading scholars, thinkers, and fellow writers and artists including Virginia Wolf, Katherine Mansfield and Roger Fry. 

His poem Second Farewell to Cambridge is a much-loved anthology piece in China, and it is learnt by all Chinese schoolchildren. Largely due to the popularity of this poem, thousands of Chinese tourists visit Cambridge every year, which has led this festival to become one of the most internationally influential arts festivals in the United Kingdom.

再别康桥 Second Farewell to Cambridge

轻轻的我走了 

Quietly, quietly, I am leaving


正如我轻轻的来 

Just as quietly as I came

我轻轻的招手 

Gently, I wave goodbye


作别西天的云彩 

To the clouds in the Western sky.

那河畔的金柳 

The golden willow on the bank of the Cam

是夕阳中的新娘

 Stands like a bride in the sunset

波光里的艳影 

Her reflection shimmers in the water

在我的心头荡漾

And ripples in my heart.

软泥上的青荇 

The rushes in the soft riverbed


油油的在水底招摇 

Sway and glisten underwater

在康河的柔波里

I'd gladly be a river weed


我甘心做一条水草 

Tossed by the currents of the Cam.

那榆荫下的一潭 

In the shadow of the elm is a pool

不是清泉

Not of clear spring water,

是天上虹 

But a rainbow from heaven


揉碎在浮藻间 

Crushed and crumpled among the duckweed


沉淀着彩虹似的梦

Leaving only a rainbow-like dream.

寻梦？撑一支长蒿 

Searching for a dream? Take a long pole and punt


向青草更青处漫溯 

Gently back towards the greenest of green grass

满载一船星辉 

In a boat brimful of starlight

在星辉斑斓里放歌 

Singing out loud in the splendour of the starlight

但我不能放歌  

I cannot sing aloud now

悄悄是别离的笙箫 

The flute and pan-pipes of parting have gone silent

夏虫也会为我沉默  

Even the clamorous summer insects are hushed for me

沉默是今晚的康桥 

Silence tonight in Cambridge

悄悄的我走了走了 

Quietly, quietly I am leaving


正如我悄悄的来 

Just as quietly as I came

我挥一挥衣袖 

Careful not to brush away with my sleeve


不带走一片云彩 

The faintest wisp of a cloud