Why Compose Classical Chinese Poetry? ：A Dialogue with AI

This essay explores my spiritual journey as a second-generation Zainichi Korean scholar who, after decades of writing in Japanese—a language inextricably linked to colonial history and “assimilation”—found a new mode of self-expression in Kanshi (classical Chinese poetry) at the age of eighty. I describe the transition from Japanese, a “language of struggle,” to Kanshi, a “universal language of East Asia,” as a process of decolonization and “self-recovery.”</br>While Kanshi’s strict rules of tonal patterns (pingze) and rhyme schemes initially appeared restrictive, I argue that these constraints function as a filter to purify one’s thoughts and strip away the “historical grime” attached to everyday language.</br>Furthermore, the essay discusses the innovative role of Artificial Intelligence in this creative process. Rather than replacing human creativity, AI serves as an essential partner in dialogue, helping me navigate the vast lexicon of Han characters. However, it is important to note that the “trembling of the heart” and the weight of lived experience remain uniquely human. Ultimately, Kanshi has for me become a “final language” where my personal history and absolute solitude are condensed into a profound literary form.