1/ Ancient China

They used to drink tea

Wear silk

Eat from china

Think in terms of zen

And practice Confucianism 

Only – is it true?

2/ Semi-Colonial China

Wearing cheongsam

These poor coolies arrived here

On sampans 

Always ready to kowtow

To a tycoon

Who lived in Shangri-La 

Eating dim sum

Drinking oolong 

Playing mahjong 

Gambling in a casino every day

Though reluctant to give cumshaw

3/ Mandarin China

Led by dao

A yin

Running dog

Wearing qipao

Is fighting against a yang 

Paper tiger

With wushu 

After getting brainwashed

Through maotai

Like a taikongnaut

At a fengshui spot

Dominated by qi 

*A word (or person) with a Chinese origin living in the West is often called an ‘egg,’ which is white-skinned, but yellow-hearted.

—
Changming Yuan, 4-time Pushcart nominee and author of Allen Qing Yuan, holds a PhD in English, teaches independently and edits Poetry Pacific in Vancouver.  Yuan’s poetry appears in 629 literary publications across 24 countries, including Asia Literary Review, Barrow Street, Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, Exquisite Corpse, LiNQ, London Magazine, Poetry Kanto, Paris/Atlantic, Poetry Salzburg, SAND and Taj Mahal Review.