Quick Read of Tang Poetry: A Rare Flower of Tang Culture

Author: Lai Fangling
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-10-01
Features: The books selected here are ones you will inevitably read at least once in your lifetime, whether you are ten, thirty, or seventy years old! A minimalist reading list of Chinese culture. From the vast collection of ancient classics, sixty classics have been chosen. For the first time, it presents a comprehensive and lively portrayal of the style and essence of Chinese culture over five thousand years. A renowned Taiwanese authority on traditional Chinese studies reviews the classics with a 21st-century perspective, traversing time and space, guiding you into the "unfenced museum of Chinese culture."
There are numerous authors of Tang poetry, with rich content, diverse forms, and colorful styles. The Complete Collection of Tang Poetry, compiled during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, consists of nine hundred volumes, containing forty-eight thousand, nine hundred poems. However, the most widely recognized is the Three Hundred Poems of Tang, selected by Qing scholar Hongtang Tuishi. His judgment was excellent, as nearly all the included works are masterpieces.
Tang poetry always gives a sense of brilliance and diversity, vastness and depth. It not only reflects the crystallization of Tang people's wisdom but also transcends countless eras and spaces, singing of the passion and sorrow for life, the obsession and melancholy for love, as well as the concern and devotion to the nation. No wonder, Tang poetry can be called the spiritual bas-relief of our nation's history and culture.