The challenge, which commenced last year, is part of Rhew鈥檚 efforts to link past to present.
By Bennett Campbell Ferguson
April 21, 2026
On October 1, 2025, Jane Goodall died at age 91. Soon after, Professor Hyong Rhew [Chinese and humanities], began composing a classical Chinese poem. “When she passed away, I wanted to imagine what a 10th century poet might have written if he learned about this great scholar and lover of the animals,” Rhew says.
Since last year, Rhew has composed one classical Chinese poem each week. He has reflected on every topic imaginable—from the Roman Empire to NASA’s Artemis II mission—and he has written ceaselessly, even on days when he was sick.
It’s all part of Rhew’s efforts to reveal that classical Chinese poetry isn’t just history, but, like journalism, a potential first draft of history. “On the one hand, I want to create something that sounds very old,” he says. “But on the other hand, I want to show that classical Chinese poetry remains a viable means of expression on issues that are contemporary.”
Rhew has been a part of Reed since 1988. He teaches courses in modern Chinese language and classical Chinese literature, literary theory, and intellectual history, guiding his students away from “feeding” on knowledge and encouraging them “to produce it by themselves.”
While the prospect of writing a new poem every week might sound daunting to some, Rhew shrugs it off. “The pace of me producing a poem a week is okay,” he says. “I can handle that.”
Whether Rhew writes about running a race with his granddaughter (“I could only fake that I had no reason to scurry”) or the passage of time (“In a journey to the west that felt like an illusory dream, I reached before I realized the seventy years of age”), his work conveys crystalline truths with directness and grace.
“The particular project began when I realized that writing poetry in classical Chinese language could be an inspiring pedagogical tool,” Rhew says. It is a tool that he employs with both eloquence and urgency, offering readers a window into his thoughts on the changing world in which we live.
It is not surprising that Rhew’s poems depict periods of transition—following a sabbatical, he will retire from teaching at Reed. Yet it is clear that no matter how much his life evolves, his dedication to classical Chinese poetry will remain.
“As long as I’m here, as long as my colleagues entertain the possibility of me posting poems, I will do it,” says Rhew, who estimates that he has published 45 poems in the past three to four years. “It’s a commitment—and it’s a piece of work. I need to work on it.”
Hyong Rhew posts Chinese poetry for the Reed community to read outside his office, Eliot 122.