Mightier than the sword

Overworked, harried by social media and dissatisfied with crass materialism, some Chinese find solace in poetry

One morning in late November Chen Dongdong was about to step out of an elevator into the lobby of Nanjing Grand Hotel. Other passengers recognized him as a guest poet at an event at the Librairie Avant-Garde bookshop across the road from the hotel the night before.

"We agreed about what you said about that last question," one passenger said, as the others nodded approvingly.