The first International Youth Poetry Festival is underway in Hangzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province. A total of 72 young poets from BRICS countries – 23 from China and 49 from Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia and more – are gathering to exchange ideas and insights about poetry and culture.

Running from July 19 to 24, the festival is the international version of the 39-year-old Youth Poetry Festival hosted by the China Writers Association and the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Zhejiang Provincial Committee.

On July 19, an impressive opening ceremony was hosted in Hangzhou, where young poets from different countries recited their poems and celebrated the launch of the festival.

During the ceremony, representatives from the group took to the stage and poured the "water of friendship" into a container that resembled an ancient Chinese ritual vessel, Jade Cong. The 'water,' which symbolizes the mother rivers from the poets' respective countries, spread from the center to the four sides of the container, and the 'tree' was lit up on the screen, marking the official opening of the festival.

A poem appears on screen as participants take the stage to sing "Auld Lang Syne" at the end of the opening ceremony of the Youth Poetry Festival, Hangzhou City, China, July 19, 2024. /China Writers Association

At the end of the ceremony, a long poem appeared on screen as participants took the stage to sing "Auld Lang Syne" together.

This poem was jointly composed by all 72 poets participating in the festival. Each poet wrote one line, filled with thoughts on love, peace and friendship from different parts of the world.

Here's the poem, titled This Poem is Dedicated to Us.

This Poem Is Dedicated to Us

Birds sing at my window

Pectoral movements guide their flight

She begins to hunt for a direction

Dragon song still reverberating in her ears

Everyone swaps positions on the chessboard

Captivated by the gravity of words

I look for words unused by poets

How many times I have been a white rice paper

Creating new sounds from words each time

I choose to light up the paper

You make an easy form

Our stories produce parts interlaced

Women are the descendants of the sun

As a poem brims with meaning

This poem is dedicated to us

To my father, who is greater than the world

Far and far away, obscured by the noise

Giant root system of the plant hides great passion

Nothing to ask for but this extensive peace

The boat gliding through the middle

I travel an endless life in fantasy

I use only torches to clarify the vowels

Worth standing on the summit of a poem

Please come together, dear star

When I jump at you like a child

Embracing under the extensive starry sky

I drink you from the honey of a smile

In the glimpse of twilight

Pave the way back

In the shoes of a river

I can finally sleep in peace

In the face of this profound world

The childish me inspires the middle-aged me

I pray for another me to fall

Don't turn on the light, your eyes will guide me

Across seaside hills, bushes and elephant land

To reach the edge of a mountain

When time-warped memories fall

You are the last fruit left on a crooked branch

For the unknown reader, finder or seeker

Touch the ever soft air

The fire of history closes its doors behind us

All things shine into our hearts

Every dawn, every dusk

And the plain in the distance overlooking us

Street lights come on one after another

Open the door to another life of light

As coming out of a grand light

I will return to you in the form of a river bed

Burning words, bells

Almost everything that can be seen is reborn

I am an ignorant student in this infinite space and time

Let us reunite to be born again

Let us invite the whole world to fall in perfect snow

Listen to the snow falling into the urn of time

Recite to an invisible audience

Sometimes gifts speak for us

The moon stuck high in the sky

Love swims in her abandoned garden

Floating on a boat with no name

Please respect my traditional orientation

The light before dawn

Over the faint flames

Here is an oud, no one playing

A million words hidden in the sand

Take your seeds and your faith

Write another line after many years

Until one day, thoughts like waves

Praise the water in a girl's eyes

Happiness gets shape in sharing

The melody sounds softly and sets the mood

It plays for every moment of my life

(With input from China Writers Association)