• To the Chrysanthemum [Tang Poems]

    — Zheng Gu Do not compare your leaves with tumbleweed in hue! On Mountain-climbing Day our head’s adorned with you. When poolside shores are sweet with your blooms wet with dew, None envy pine-like plants high on the eaves in view.

  • Learning to Defeat Ten Thousand [Western Han]

    This article introduces Xiang Yu’s early ambition to “defeat ten thousand men” and his bold remark to replace Qin Shi Huang. It covers Qin’s frontier projects, the emperor’s death, and the secret coup by Zhao Gao, Li Si, and Huhai. Their tyranny soon ignited rebellions that ended the Qin Dynasty.

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

    This article tells Zhang Liang’s legendary encounter with the Yellow‑Stone Elder. After a failed assassination on Qin Shi Huang, Zhang met the old man on a bridge, who tested his patience and rewarded him with Taigong’s Art of War. This wisdom shaped him into a key strategist for the Han Dynasty.

  • 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.