Bai Juyi’s Autumn Thoughts
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.
Monthly Archives: November 27, 2021
Zhu Ziqing’s Retreating Figure
Zhu Ziqing (朱自清) wrote a short, touching essay on his father. In the essay, Retreating Figure (背影), Zhu grows up a great deal by watching his father grow old.
Ouyang Xiu – Spring at the Jade Tower
We thought we were done with the Song, but we just cannot get enough of it. Now, we are going back to Ouyang Xiu with a poem that features in a translation of a late Qing thinker that Rob is working on. The poem is by Ouyang Xiu, and Rob and Lee disagree about how […]
Elon Musk’s Chinese Poem – On Beans and Brothers
It has happened again. For the second time this year, a billionaire has used a Chinese poem on social media in a newsworthy way. And you know we had to deal with it! This week, the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, tweeted a Chinese poem about fraternal problems. The poem, which he titled “Humankind” (in […]