Selections from The Book of Songs
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
The book's organization is clear and its selections are well chosen, covering the finest parts of the Feng, Ya, and Song sections. Each poem is accompanied by detailed annotations, a fluent modern translation, and a concise prefatory note. The prefatory notes are especially valuable: like a learned guide, they identify the poem's theme, compositional background, and key divergences in interpretation over the centuries in just a few words, helping readers quickly grasp the essentials and avoid getting lost in the vast sea of commentary. For readers who wish to go beyond surface understanding and truly appreciate the dual literary and historical value of the Book of Songs, this selection provides a solid textual foundation and a clear interpretive framework. It does not pursue startling arguments but, through steady and lucid exposition, makes these ancient poems feel vivid and approachable again, demonstrating the enduring vitality of a classic in the contemporary world.
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Beginning readers with a preliminary interest in the Book of Songs, the fountainhead of classical Chinese literature, who want an authoritative guided introduction.
- Students of Chinese or history who need a reference edition of the Book of Songs with accurate annotations and a stronger scholarly orientation.
- Enthusiasts of traditional culture who wish to understand pre-Qin society and the emotional world of the ancients through poetry.
- Writers and creative artists seeking inspiration from the bi and xing devices, imagery, and language of the Book of Songs.
Not a good fit for
- Readers looking for extremely colloquial retellings, story adaptations, or comic-style illustrated versions.
- Users of reference works that are extremely abbreviated or intended only for looking up word-by-word translations.
Reading tips
- Read through the modern translations and prefatory notes first to gain an overall impression, then return to savor the original text and annotations.
- With specific poems, try to learn about the historical background of Zhou ritual music, farming, and warfare, and appreciate the poems' capacity to express feeling, observation, social bonding, and grievance.
- Try reading the original text aloud to feel the rhythm and musical beauty of its four-character lines; much of the poetry lies in the sound.
About the publisher
The Commercial Press is a publisher known for classic works and academic publishing, with titles spanning Eastern philosophy, foreign literature, world history, social culture, and applied psychology. Its list includes classical commentaries such as Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries on the Analects and Wang Bi's Commentary on the Zhouyi, as well as modern annotated translations like Zhuangzi with Modern Notes and Translation. In foreign literature it offers War and Peace and Crime and Punishment, while in world history it carries Braudel's The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Applied psychology is represented by Irvin D. Yalom's Existential Psychotherapy, and ethical texts include a Greek-Chinese-English edition of the Nicomachean Ethics. Its authors and translators include Zhu Xi, Wang Bi, Yalom, Braudel, and translators such as Huang Zheng, Zhang Yiling, Shen Dongyu, and Tang Jialong, balancing the editing of original texts with academic translation.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 走出学术象牙塔
- 导言
- 国风
- 周南
- 关雎
- 葛覃
- 卷耳
- 桃夭
- 汉广
- 汝坟
- 召南
- 草虫
- 甘棠
- 行露
- 摽有梅
- 野有死麕
- 邶风
- 柏舟
- 燕燕
- 击鼓
- 凯风
- 谷风
- 泉水
- 北门
- 静女
- 新台
- 鄘风
- 柏舟
- 墙有茨
- 君子偕老
- 桑中
- 定之方中
- 载驰
- 卫风
- 硕人
- 氓
- 竹竿
- 河广
- 伯兮
- 木瓜
- 王风
- 黍离
- 君子于役
- 采葛
- 郑风
- 缁衣
- 将仲子
- 叔于田
- 女曰鸡鸣
- 山有扶苏
- 褰裳
- 风雨
- 子衿
- 溱洧
- 齐风
- 鸡鸣
- 还
- 著
- 东方之日
- 南山
- 猗嗟
- 魏风
- 葛屦
- 陟岵
- 唐风
- 蟋蟀
- 山有枢
- 绸缪
- 杕杜
- 葛生
- 秦风
- 蒹葭
- 黄鸟
- 无衣
- 陈风
- 宛丘
- 衡门
- 东门之杨
- 株林
- 桧风
- 隰有苌楚
- 匪风
- 曹风
- 蜉蝣
- 候人
- 豳风
- 七月
- 鸱鸮
- 东山
- 伐柯
- 小雅
- 鹿鸣
- 常棣
- 伐木
- 采薇
- 车攻
- 鹤鸣
- 白驹
- 斯干
- 节南山
- 蓼莪
- 大东
- 北山
- 信南山
- 何草不黄
- 大雅
- 文王
- 绵
- 思齐
- 生民
- 卷阿
- 荡
- 抑
- 烝民
- 常武
- 周颂
- 清庙
- 维天之命
- 时迈
- 臣工
- 有瞽
- 武
- 赉
- 桓
- 闵予小子
- 小毖
- 载芟
- 般
- 鲁颂
- 駉
- 泮水
- 商颂
- 玄鸟
- 殷武
FAQ
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About the author
Li Shan, born in 1963, holds a doctorate in literature and is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Chinese Language and Literature, Beijing Normal University. His research focuses on the literature of the pre-Qin, Han, Wei, and Northern and Southern Dynasties periods. He has long been engaged in the study and popularization of the Classic of Poetry (Shijing) and Chinese culture, and is the author of works including The Cultural Spirit of the Classic of Poetry, An Interpretive Reading of the Classic of Poetry, How the Classic of Poetry Should Be Read, and A History of Chinese Culture. Nine of his works are included in the collection, among them the Classic of Poetry, Selections from the Classic of Poetry, The Grand Air of a Great State: Li Shan on the Classic of Poetry, and the expanded illustrated edition of An Interpretive Reading of the Classic of Poetry, as well as Guanzi, Guanzi (Complete Text, Full Annotation, and Modern Translation of Chinese Classics), A Brief History of Fifty Thousand Years of China (two volumes), and On the Dream of the Red Chamber in Sound and Color: From the 1987 TV Series to the Original Novel. His writing spans literary appreciation, historical reading, and Eastern philosophy, emphasizing the cultural context of classics through solid textual analysis, and he has lectured on the Classic of Poetry on CCTV's Lecture Room, building a bridge between academic research and general reading.
