Poetry need not be consigned to book graveyard

LEI HAIWEI, a migrant worker, who works as a courier in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, won the Chinese Poetry Competition, a TV show on the Voice of China, last week, after defeating a postgraduate majoring in the Chinese literature studies from Peking University in the final. Beijing News comments:

Many people said the result was a surprise, as they did not expect a migrant worker to know anything about poetry. But poetry is not exclusive, and is accessible to everyone.

Interest is the best teacher. The 37-year-old Lei, an obsessive fan of Chinese poetry since childhood, has dedicated most of his spare time to reading poems and studying poetry.