— by Tao Yuanming (Jin Dynasty) From youth I had no taste for worldly ways,My nature loved the hills and mountains.By mistake I fell into the dusty net,And for thirty years I strayed.A caged bird longs for its former woods,A pond fish yearns for its native deeps.So now I clear wild land along the…
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…
The Basics The Visual Structure This character is made of two clear parts: Put them together: a pig under a roof.At first glance, that might seem odd – why would a pig define “home”? But think like an ancient farmer: in early agricultural societies, pigs were the most valuable domestic animals. They provided meat,…
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.
Tao Yuanming (365–427CE) was a poet of the Eastern Jin dynasty. Also known as Tao Qian, with the courtesy name Yuanliang, he was given the posthumous private honorific title “Jingjie.” He was from Chaisang, Xunyang (in present-day southwestern Jiujiang, Jiangxi). He held several official posts, including Chief Sacrificial Wine Officer of Jiangzhou, Military Advisor…
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 Tao Yuanming (Eastern Jin Dynasty) The gentleman’s origins are unknown, and his name and surname are unrecorded. Since five willow trees grew beside his home, he took “Master Five Willows” as his sobriquet.
-by Zhou Dunyi (Song Dynasty) Among the flowers of land and water, many are lovely. During the Jin Dynasty, Tao Yuanming alone loved the chrysanthemum. Since the Tang Dynasty, people have greatly favored the peony.