The so-called "third generation" poets are defined relative to the first generation poets between 1949- 1976 and the second generation poets represented by misty poetry, which generally refers to a group of poets who appeared from misty poetry to the 1990s.
The third generation of poetry has the following characteristics: it shows the tendency of anti-rationality, anti-loftiness and anti-hero, and advocates the consciousness of little people and civilians; Pay attention to genre and theoretical construction; A high sense of language in creation has expanded the development space of contemporary new poetry with spoken language. They liberated poetry from group consciousness, which made China's poetry present a trend of diversification, marginalization and individualization. The third generation of poetry is regarded as the watershed of China's contemporary poetry.