“In tracing the poetic footprints in Chinese history, the author combines the precision of a scientist …, the refined taste of a lettré, the concern of a humanist …, and the acute sense of rhyme and rhythm of a creative writer … In viticultural terms, the author has selected grapes from an excellent vineyard and transformed them into mellow wine for your appreciation.”
— Yau Shun-chiu, Emeritus Director of Research, The French National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS)
“Rarely is there an anthology of Chinese poetry translated by one single individual, not a team, and yet comprehensive in its selection. Chan Hong-Mo has done it … by treating poetry with not only inspired translation but also a sense of history that would transport modern-day readers back into the original context of each poem. This bridge brings together, too, the poetic traditions of east and west, in sentiments as well as musical patterns … ”
— E. S. P. Almberg-Ng, Professor, Formerly of the Department of Translation in the Chinese University of Hong Kong
“This book is a gem. What a novel idea to view Chinese history through the eyes of its most famous poets. The poems are well chosen and expertly translated … I thoroughly enjoyed and learnt much from this articulate and artistic book, written with scholarship and devotion.” —- Sir David Todd, Emeritus Professor, University of Hong Kong
“… We meet, across this great span of time, the real people who make history come alive: the soldier returning home as an old man to find his village deserted, the young man tempted away from work by a girl ‘with spring time in her heart’, … and many others. We could not get better proof that human emotions were the same centuries ago as they are now … Dr Chan’s fluent translations enable us to appreciate the beauty of the poems …” —- Janet Morgan, District Councillor, The Vale of White Horse, Oxford
“… The book gave me the opportunity to learn about the country, its people, history and culture. It manages to be both condensed in contents, and easy to read, being written in a style accessible even to readers, like me, whose mother tongue is not English … The most striking feature is that, in reading these poems …, you make discoveries about life in your own country, which shares similar worries and joys …” —— Jose Bordes, Chaired Professor (catedratico) in theoretical physics at the University of Valencia, Spain
The book introduces Chinese culture to readers of English, using poetry from the various periods rendered into English verse to bring back to life past Chinese society as it developed from about 1000 B.C to the form we see today.
With China’s increasing importance on the world stage today, many readers, no doubt, would want to learn more about its ancient culture. However, to learn about a culture from its history alone, especially one as long as that of China, is time-consuming and requires a historian’s expert skill. This book offers the general reader a direct glimpse into the human core of it via the universally accessible channel of poetry.
It provides an outline of Chinese history from prehistoric times to the present printed mostly on left-hand pages, accompanied on the right by a selection of Chinese poems of the corresponding periods translated into English verse by the author. The poems total about eighty in number and come mostly from the classical phase dating from around 1000 B.C. to 1200 A.D.
Contents: Poems of the Spring and Autumn Period (7); Of the Warring States (3); Of the Qin Dynasty (1); Of the Han Dynasty (10); Of Wei, Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties (9); Of the Tang Dynasty (30); Of Song and the Preceeding Five Dynasties (18); Of Modern Times (4); Time-Line and Maps; Original Poems in Chinese; Glossary of Chinese Names and Terms.
About the Author
Though a devoted lover of poetry and history all his life, Professor Chan Hong-Mo is by profession a scientist specialized in theoretical particle physics. Thus, his poetry, gathered at odd moments over a lifetime, is to him but an amateur’s private affair, and only the hope now of helping to promote intercultural understanding gives him the incentive and daring to publish some of it. Born in Guangzhou, China, to Chinese parents, brought up mostly in Hong Kong, then having lived and worked since in various places around the world, he has naturally a particular interest in how cultures mix.
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