Part Two of our miniseries on Bai Juyi: this week we look at a poem of biting satire that is a good example of Bai’s more polemical poetry. Bai was eventually exiled for some of the poetry he wrote (not this poem, but an equally cutting poem). Listen as we try to work through Bai […]
A seasonal poem? A meditation on death? What does one do with Bai Juyi’s poem Autumn Thoughts (秋思)? Rob and Lee hash it out as they watch the leaves fall on two different continents.
This week’s episode looks at a Tang Dynasty Poem that cost Meituan Dianping, one of China’s unicorn internet companies, 26 Billion dollars off its market capitalization. In this episode, we take a look at the Zhang Jie’s “Book Burning Pit” and explore the full story behind the poem that the media is not explaining. Here […]
19 different translations of a single short Tang Dynasty poem adds up to a guided tour of the rich and peculiar ways other cultures interact with Chinese poetry. Join us as we discuss a wonderful book!
This slim little volume has a whole lot packed into it. Not only does it give the reader a concise history of a crucial moment in Chinese history, but it also beautifully explains to a non-Chinese audience just why Du Fu was so brilliant.
In honor of our good friend Katherine, a long-time listener of the podcast, we’re dedicating an episode to the poet whose work provided the Chinese characters for her son’s name.
Today, Rob and Lee say goodbye, or, at least, say goodbye to the face to face format of podcasting. Rob has earned a Chateaubriand Scholarship to the Sorbonne in Paris, where he will be researching the nexus of Chinese and French culture in the late Qing. That means Lee and Rob may have to change […]
Today, we’re looking at one of Du Fu’s poems. We covered one of his works before, but his oeuvre is massive. Here is the poem for the day: 月夜憶舍弟 戍鼓斷人行，秋邊一雁聲。 露從今夜白，月是故鄉明。 有弟皆分散，無家問死生。 寄書長不達，況乃未休兵。 Thinking of my Brothers on a Moonlit Night The drums of war have cut the roads […]
When people in China think of poetry, two names come immediately to mind: the Tang Dynasty (618-907 B.C.E.) poets Du Fu and Li Bai. In part two of our discussion of these greats, we take a look at one of Li Bai’s most famous works, and discuss why he’s our go-to Tang literary figure to […]
When people in China think of poetry, two names spring to mind: the Tang Dynasty (618-907 B.C.E.) poets Du Fu and Li Bai. In this first of a pair of podcasts on their works, we examine a well-known poem by Du Fu and discuss why the poet was both the greatest master of Chinese poetic form, […]