Tao Yuanming is remembered as the serene poet who “picked chrysanthemums beneath the eastern fence.” But his famous resignation was far more than a gesture of moral integrity. In an age when Ji Kang was executed at forty, Ruan Ji was broken by forced collaboration, and Lu Ji’s entire clan was wiped out, official…
From Liaozhai, it depicts the loyal friendship between two scholars. Cheng risks everything to rescue wrongfully‑imprisoned Zhou. Later Cheng becomes an immortal, swapping bodies with Zhou and revealing worldly illusions before they transcend mortal life.
Huangfu Mi (215–282 CE), courtesy name Shi’an and courtesy title Xuan Yan Xiansheng (Master Xuan Yan), was a renowned scholar, writer, and physician in ancient China who lived through the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms Period, and the early Western Jin Dynasty. Though widely celebrated as the “father of acupuncture” for his…
–Wang Wei Alone I sit among the quiet bamboos, Carefreely I play on lute and croon. Deep in the woods, no human soul doth know my stay, Only the bright moon comes to shed its gentle ray.
— Wang Wei I follow the Blue Rill To the Stream of Yellow Blooms. It winds from hill to hill Till far away it looms. It roars amid pebbles white And calms down under pines green. Weeds float on ripples light, Reeds mirrored like a screen. Mind’s carefree, alone; The clear stream flows with…