ИСТИНА

The paper presents an attempt to explore the problem of mediality in Chinese avant-garde poetry of the last thirty years. This can be achieved through applying an analysis paradigm for performative word art as developed by Dr. Tomáš Glanc in the context of Czech and Russian neo-avant-garde. Examples of mediality phenomena can be found in Greater China in the works of Ouyang Jianghe, Yang Xiaobin, Ouyang Yu, Xia Yu, Chen Li, Xu Bing, Wuqing, and many more experimental artists. Their creative use of word shift principles shows how performative strategies are adapted in contemporary Chinese poetry. It seems both a continuation of a long-existing tradition and a radical exploration of ‘iconic turn’ in the field of language.