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Zhu Yanjun is a migrant worker(农民工)from northwest China's Gansu Province. Recently the 50-year-old took part in the 2023 Chinese Poem Competition and won second place in the final.
Zhu was born in a family of farmers. As a young boy, Zhu would help his father do farm work after finishing classes. In 1983, as a first-grader in primary school, he met poetry for the first time in a Chinese class. Since then, he has been in love with poems. After noticing Zhu's interest, his father spared some money from the family's living costs to buy him poetry collections （诗歌集）. During junior high school, some of his classmates dropped out of school and moved to other cities to look for jobs. Zhu listened to them talking about the outside world during holidays. "I also wanted to leave my hometown to see the world. "he said.
After graduating from junior high school in 1992, Zhu stopped his schooling. He began to work as a migrant worker. But he did not stop reading poems.
In the past years, Zhu has worked in seven cities in China. Whenever he arrives in a city, he first visits the bookstores and libraries there. Although he is busy working during the day, he spends his time at noon and in the evening reading poems. He knows around1, 000 poems by heart and the lines help him keep a calm mind.
In 2023, with the encouragement of his wife, Zhu decided to sign up for the 2023 Chinese Poem Competition. To his surprise, he made it to the final. Under his influence, his son and daughter have developed a great interest in poetry. They have been accepted by universities away from their hometown. "I hope more people will also fall in love with poetry, "said Zhu, adding that he will continue learning poetry.
