Pearl wood branches from jasper. Cheng May, Ji-Lin Van, Song Juanfu

Poetry in China has existed at least three thousand years (this is one of the oldest poetic traditions in the world). “Start education with poetry” - the famous wisdom of Confucius said. For centuries, every competent person in China, from emperors and officials to monks and students, tried to capture his feelings, observations and thoughts in a beautiful poetic form.

This edition presents remarkable examples of Chinese poetry of different eras: from the oldest "Book of Songs" ("Shi Jing") to the era of Qing (1644–1911) in the translations of the outstanding Chinese, doctor, professor Lev Nikolayevich Menshikov (1926–2005). In a selection of texts there is no pre -thought -out system, but the verses included in the book seemed to the compiler “important, significant and perfect”. Poetic translations are accompanied by articles, biographies of poets and detailed notes.