This page analyses Bai Juyi’s poem Song of Jianjian. It mourns a gifted thirteen‑year‑old girl’s premature death, exploring the bittersweet theme that the finest beauties and things in life are often fleeting and fragile.
This page introduces Yuan‑dynasty poet Zhang Yanghao’s Sheep on the Slope ‑ Thinking of the Past at Tong Pass. It laments dynastic rise‑and‑fall, pointing out common folk suffer whether empires thrive or collapse.
This entry explains idiom “Cang hai yi su” from Su Shi’s Former Red Cliff Ode. It likens entities to a grain in the vast sea, conveying insignificance against the cosmos and inspiring philosophical humility.
This entry explains idiom “Cang hai sang tian” from Ge Hong’s Biographies of Immortals. Drawing on Maggu’s tale, it depicts immense long‑term transformations, stressing impermanence of circumstances and worldly fortunes.
– by Tao Yuanming (Jin Dynasty) Long have I been away from wandering the mountains and streams;Now I roam freely, finding joy in the boundless woods and fields.Gathering my children and nephews, I take them along,Pushing aside the brambles to walk through the ruined village.Wandering among the burial mounds,I linger affectionately by the sites…
— by Tao Yuanming (Jin Dynasty) Life has no firm and lasting root –It drifts like dust upon the roadside street.Scattered apart, chased by the wind’s turn,This body is no longer what it was before.Once born into this world, we are all brothers –Why must we share only one flesh and bone?When joy is…
By Wang Bo (Tang Dynasty) The old prefecture of Yuzhang, now the new seat of Hongzhou.Its stars align with the constellations Yi and Zhen; its land borders Mount Heng and Mount Lu.Girded by the Three Rivers and belted by the Five Lakes, it commands the southern Jing region and links Ou and Yue.Here nature’s…
By Su Shi (Song Dynasty) In the autumn of the Renxu year, on the sixteenth day of the seventh month, I sailed with my guests beneath the Red Cliff. A gentle breeze blew softly; the river lay calm without a ripple. Raising my cup to toast my companions, I recited poems of the bright…
— Bai Juyi I’m saddened by the courtyard peonies brilliant red, At dusk only two of them are left on their bed. I am afraid they can’t survive the morning blast, By lantern light I take a look at the long, long last.