Children's poems carve out a legacy

Walking along the picturesque shores of Dongshan Island, in southeastern China's Fujian province, visitors can immerse themselves in a poetic world brimming with vivid imagination and bold creativity, encountering children's poems engraved on the coastal rocks.

The verses range from the imaginative musings of a child who writes: "A cloud has little strength, yet in one burst, can fling a bolt of lightning", to the philosophical reflections of another who pens: "My two hands empty, can still hold back the wind", and "The compass points south, and the north is forgotten".

These poems come from the Dongshan Island International Children's Poetry Beach Project, an annual art program inaugurated on June 1, International Children's Day, with a two-day celebration that included an awards ceremony, poetry readings, outdoor performances, workshops and educational activities, aiming to build the idyllic island into a cultural landmark.

"Poetry is a counter to cliches. It's also a bridge that empowers people around the world to transcend their native languages and cultures, rebuilding the Tower of Babel. I hope to create a potential world cultural heritage here through the power of art. Many years from now, when we are no longer here, this poetry beach will still remain," says Qiu Zhijie, vice-president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts who initiated the project.

Since last September, the project supported by local government has been inviting children from around the globe to submit their poetry, with selected works being engraved on the island's coastal rocks. It has received more than 5,000 submissions from children under the age of 16 from various countries, including the United States, France, Germany, Argentina, Mexico, Japan and South Korea.