Pearl tree branches made of jasper

Poetry in China has been around for at least three thousand years (it is one of the oldest poetic traditions in the world). “Start your education with poetry,” said the famous wisdom of Confucius. For centuries, every literate person in China, from emperors and officials to monks and students, tried to capture their feelings, observations and reflections in beautiful poetic form. This publication presents wonderful examples of Chinese poetry from different eras: from the ancient “Book of Songs” (“Shi Jing”) to the Qing era (1644-1911) in translations by the outstanding sinologist, doctor of sciences, professor Lev Nikolaevich Menshikov (1926-2005). There is no pre-thought-out system in the selection of texts, but the poems included in the book seemed to the compiler to be “important, significant and perfect.” Poetic translations are accompanied by articles, biographies of poets and detailed notes.