Abstract: Forced to remain in Shanghai by the end of 1941, Qian Zhongshu (1910–1998) had to face material scarcity, national trauma and spiritual isolation. In response, he adopted liqu (meaning “philosophical subtlety”) and metaphor as core poetic strategies to turn, in his classical-style poetry, to a resistance to historical absurdity and the ruins of value. His poems written between 1942 and 1945 not only poetically epitomize the living conditions and spiritual dilemmas of intellectuals in the occupied territories but also manifest a poetic practice that resists “nihility,” preserves dignity and sustains cultural continuity through intellectual creativity. This article traces the logical chain of Qian's resistance to “nihility,” revealing how–amid historical absurdity, suspended values and cognitive fragmentation–he forged a path of modern transformation by fusing tradition within cultural fissures to ultimately achieve spiritual reconstruction at the intersection of individual finitude and collective universality.

Key words: Qian Zhongshu (1910–1998), Huai Ju Shi Cun (Collected Poems of Qian Zhongshu), resistance to “nihility”, poetic strategy