Wu Xia, a working poet, left her hometown at 14 to work on an assembly line in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen. As documented in the award-winning film “The Verse of Us” (2014), she transformed her feelings during those times into poetic expressions. However, her post-documentary life hasn’t unfolded quite the way she had hoped. Leaving the factory, she encountered persistent setbacks in finding writing-related jobs. Determined to stay in Shenzhen, Wu Xia and her parents now rent a house in a nearby workers’ community, trying their best to navigate the escalating costs of city living so as to make ends meet.
This summary doesn’t quite do justice to her story . The video (just ten mins) made me tear up. She’s a really good writer - her brilliance shines through, man. I wish she could be free to write. Seeing the poverty she has to live in is really depressing.