There are innumerable collections of Chinese
poetry. Some are collected by poet, e.g.
Li Bai, Du Fu, Su Shi, Tao Yuanming, and the other greats. There are some by dynasty, the Tang and the
Song generally considered the best, though the Yuan and Ming also make a good
showing. And there are collections by
theme, hermitry, friendship, transcendence, Daoism, etc. Sunflower
Splendor has a lot of all, making the anthology amongst the best yet
published, and will be of particular interest to people who have read a fair
amount of Chinese poetry already and are looking for atypical material from the
Middle Kingdom.
Sunflower Splendor undoubtedly the work of many years, editors Liu Wuqi and Irving Yucheng Lo and the book’s roughly fifty contributors have collected among the best of what Chinese poetry has to offer. From the early dynasties to the latter, the themes of water to parting, to a huge variety of poets, well-known to obscure, every facet of Chinese poetry seems packed in this collection. But at 681 pages, it should come as no surprise.
