【Preface】

‘Cherish one’s own beauty, respect other’s beauty, and when both beauties are respected and cherished, the world will become one”（各美其美，美人之美，美美与共，天下大同——费孝通）, said Fei Xiaotong, a famous Chinese sociologist at a cerebration party in honor of his eightieth birthday about thirty years ago. In a time of growing interest in intercultural communication today, these words sound especially wise and far sighted. Translation, as one of the most important means for cultural communication, is usually done into one’s mother tongue from other languages by native translators. This largely guarantees the quality of translated text, so far as the linguistic readability is concerned. However, this method implies a one-sidedness in correspondence, as only the translator’s ‘respect for other’s beauty” is concerned, regardless, though not completely, of how the local people look upon and cherish their own beauty. It should be compensated by translations on the other way, that is, works selected, interpreted, and translated by the local people themselves into languages other than their own. This approach may go directly against the prevalent views in modern translation theories but, in my opinion, is worthy of practicing. It is perhaps an even more effective way to bring about successful communication in cultures, and the beauties of the world can really be shared by the world’s people. It is with such understanding that the Shanghai Foreign Languages Education Press is organizing a new series of books, entitled Readings of Chinese Culture, to introduce Chinese culture, past and present, to the world, with works selected and translated by the Chinese scholars and translators. 

The series will cover a wide range of writings including but not restricted to works of different literary genres. For the first batch, we are glad to provide three books of essays and two books of short stories, all written by authors of the 20th century. They will be continued by a batch of serious academic writings on premodern Chinese classics in philosophy, literature, and historiography, written by influential scholars of our time. Later, we will offer more books on classical Chinese drama, classical Chinese poetry, etc. 

Some of the books in the series have been published before, but they have been revised and rearranged for the new purpose to meet the current needs of broader readers. We are looking forward to hear comments and suggestions on the series for future improvement.

【译者简介/ About the translator】

孙大雨（1905-1997），祖籍浙江省诸暨市，出生于上海。1925年毕业于北京清华学校高等科。1926年赴美国留学，就读于达德穆斯学院，1928年获高级荣誉毕业。1928-1930年在耶鲁大学研究生院专攻英文文学。1930年回国，历任武汉大学、北京师范大学、北平大学女子文理学院、北京大学、青岛大学、浙江大学、暨南大学、中央政治学院、复旦大学、华东师范大学等校英文文学教授。主要著作有：《中国新诗库·孙大雨卷》、《孙大雨诗文集》、《屈原诗选英译》、《古诗文英译集》、《英诗选译集》，以及翻译莎士比亚作品《罕秣莱德》、《黎琊王》、《奥赛罗》、《麦克白斯》、《暴风雨》、《冬日故事》、《罗密欧与居丽晔》、《威尼斯商人》。 

Sun Dayu (1905-1997), native of Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, was born in Shanghai. Having successfully completed his courses in the senior class at Qinghua College (now Tsinghua University) in Bejing in 1925, he went to US. to continue his education at Dartmouth College in 1926, and graduated as AB magna cum laude in 1928. During 1928-1930, he pursued a postgraduate study of English literature at Yale University, and then came back in 1930 as professor of English literature at Wuhan University, Beijing Normal University, Women’s College of Arts and Sciences of Beiping University, Beijing University, Qingdao University, Zhejiang University, Jinan University, Central Politics Institute, Fudan University and East China Normal University respectively. His chief works include The Book of Sun Dayu in A Collection of Modern Chinese Poetry, Sun Dayu’s Book of Poems and Other Writings, Selected Poems of Chu Yuan, An Anthology of Ancient Chinese Poetry and Prose, Selected English Poems Rendered into Chinese Verse, translations of Shakespeare’s works of Hamlet, King Lear Othello, Macbeth, The Tempest,  The Winter’s Tale, Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice.

【CONTENTS】

Selected Poems of Chu Yuan

Introduction

I Exordium

ll Three Hwang, Five Tih and Three Kings

III Early Tsur(1122-1052 B.C)

IV The Spring and Autumn Period(722-481 B.C)

V The Warring States Period(403-221 B. C)

VI Tsou and Chü Yuan

VII Chii Yuan and His Works

VIll Chi Yuans Thought and Poetry

IX Chi Yuans Position in Chinas History and the Worlds; His Adorers, Imitators and Critics

Lee Sao: Suffering Throes

Nine Hymns

1 Hymn on East Emperor Tai-ih

2 Hymn on the King of Clouds

3 Hymn on the Lady of Hsiang

4 Hymn on the King of Hsiang

5 Hymn on the Major God of Life-ruling

6 Hymn on the Minor God of Life-ruling

7 Hymn on East King

8 Hymn on the Count of Ho

9 Hymn on the Mountain Sprite

10 Hymn on Spirits of State Warriors Slayed in War

11 Epode to All the Hymns Above

Sylva of Nine Pieces

1 Pining Plaint

2 Over the Streams

3 Plaint on Ying

4 Drawing My Thoughts

5 Thinking of Sah

6 Thinking of the Beauteous One

7 Pining My Past Days

8 Ode to the Orange

9 Lamenting on Whirlblasts

Distant Wanderings

Divining to Know Where I Should Stay 

The Fisherman

Hail Home the (Regals) Soul

Notes and Comments