Ana

  • Seeing Secretary Chao Back to Japan [Tang Poems]

    — Wang Wei The sea is far and wide. Who knows the other side? How far is it away? A thousand miles, you say. Look at the sun, O please! Your sail should trust the breeze. Turtles bear the dark sky; Giant fish raise waves high. When you are in your isle, There are…

  • Seeing Yuan the Second off to Anxi [Tang Poems]

    — Wang Wei No dust is raised on the road wet with morning rain; The willows by the hotel look so fresh and green. I invite you to drink a cup of wine again; West of the Sunny Pass no more friends will be seen.

  • Seeing Li off to Zizhou [Tang Poems]

    — Wang Wei The trees in your valley scrape the sky, You’ll hear in your hills cuckoo’s cry. If it rained at night in your mountain, You’d see your tree tips hung like fountain. Your women weave to make a suit; You’d try to solve people’s dispute. The sage before you opened schools; Like…

  • At Parting [Tang Poems]

    — Wang Wei Dismounted, I drink with you And ask what you’ve in view. “I can’t do what I will; So I’ll do what I will; I’ll ask you no more, friend, Let clouds drift without end!”

  • Farewell to Xin Jian at Lotus Tower [Tang Poems]

    — Wang Changling A cold rain dissolved in East Stream invades the night; At dawn you’ll leave the lonely Southern hills in haze. If my friends in the North should ask if I’m all right, Tell them I’m free from blame as ice in crystal vase.

  • Liu Bang

    Liu Bang (256 or 247 BCE – 195 BCE), posthumously known as Emperor Gaozu of Han, was the founder of the Western Han dynasty and reigned from 202 to 195 BCE. His courtesy name was Ji, and he was from Pei County (in present-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu). He initially served as a minor local official…

  • Lie Yukou

    Lie Yukou was a representative figure of Daoism in the early Warring States period. He is also known as Yu Kou, Yu Kou, or Liezi. Traditionally believed to be from the state of Zheng (in present-day Zhengzhou, Henan) during the Warring States era, he advocated the principles of emptiness, stillness, and non-action (wu wei),…

  • Zhang Liang

    Zhang Liang (?–189 BCE) was a prominent statesman in the early Western Han dynasty. His courtesy name was Zifang, and he was from Chengfu, Yingchuan (in present-day southwestern Xiangcheng, Henan). His ancestors were nobles of the former state of Han, with five generations serving as Han ministers. Seeking revenge for the Qin conquest of…

  • Dreaming a Journey to Mount Tianmu: A Poem on Parting

    By Li Bai (Tang Dynasty) Seafarers speak of Penglai Isle –Amid misty waves, faint and far, truly hard to find.But the people of Yue tell of Mount Tianmu –Its peaks gleam through shifting clouds, sometimes visible.