• Learning to Defeat Ten Thousand

    Much like Sun Wukong in Journey to the West, Xiang Yu was born arrogant, refused to be ordinary, submitted only to the strongest, and possessed a natural kingly aura. As a descendant of Chu nobility, he was endowed with innate grace. From an early age, he disdained trivial skills and insisted on learning the…

  • An Unexpected Teacher on the Bridge: Zhang Liang and the Yellow-Stone Elder [Western Han]

    After Qin Shi Huang unified China by conquering the six warring states, he frequently toured his vast empire.

  • To the Partridges [Tang Poems]

    — Zheng Gu Over warm misty grassland wing to wing you fly. As fair and good as pheasants in the mountain high. When Grass-green Lake is darkened in rain, you pass by; When flowers fall on the Imperial Tomb, you cry. A roamer would wet his sleeves with tears on heating your song; His…

  • To the Crabapple Flower [Tang Poems]

    — Zheng Gu The vernal breeze has brightened your color so fine; You stir my mind to write a verse before good wine. With rain impearled on you, more beautiful you grow; You’re all the more bewitching when about to blow. The fair forgets to powder her face before you; The painter hesitates to…

  • The Young Pine [Tang Poems]

    — Du Xunhe While young, the pine tree thrusts its head amid tall grass; Now by and by we find it outgrow weed in mass. People don’t realize it will grow to scrape the sky; Seeing it tower in cloud, then they know it’s high.

  • Journal of the Drunken Old Man’s Pavilion

    The district of Chu is entirely surrounded by hills. Among the peaks in the southwest, the forests and valleys are especially beautiful. The one that appears lush, deep, and elegant is Mount Langya. After walking six or seven miles along the mountain path, one gradually hears the gurgling sound of water flowing out between…