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–Mao Zedong, June 1959 Faint dreams of old days curse time’s swift flowing tide,My homeland’s scenes recall thirty-two years’ pride.Red flags unfurl; serf’s halberds rise far and wide,Black hands hold high tyrant’s whips, cruel and applied.
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–Mao Zedong, 1935 The west wind rages high;Wild geese cry ‘neath frosty dawn and sky.Frosty dawn and sky –Hoof beats scatter low;Bugles moan and die.
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Long ago, when the world was in great danger, ten suns appeared together in the sky. The intense heat burned crops, dried rivers, and made people suffer terribly. Many died from hunger and heat.
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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…
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— Zhang Ji The River Xiang unruffled in autumn looks wide; The wayfarer at moonset leaves the riverside. We see wayfarers come, we see wayfarers go. Over white duckweed partridges fly to and fro.
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Prologue In the beginning, the world lay shrouded in darkness—an era named “Chaos.”