Classical Chinese Poetry: The Book of Songs / 詩經 (1046–771 BC)

The 詩經 or Shijing (alternately known as the "Classic of Poetry", "The Book of Songs", and other names) is the oldest collection of poetry in world literature and a cornerstone of Chinese cultural heritage. Compiled between the 11th and 6th centuries BC, it preserves 305 poems that capture the voices of early Zhou society — from folk songs sung in villages to ceremonial hymns performed at ancestral rites and political odes composed for rulers. Centuries later, the Shijing would become central to Confucian philosophy and re-interpreted (many would argue mis-interpreted) as a guide to moral cultivation, social order, and ritual propriety.

The collection's verses — simple yet profound — cover themes of daily life, love, family, longing, work, nature, and politics, offering insight into both the inner lives of common people and the ideals of rulers. It has deeply influenced Chinese literature, philosophy, culture, and aesthetics for over three millennia.

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This is a series of meetups to discuss the rich tradition of classical Chinese poetry. At this third meetup (Oct 12), we'll continue live reading selections from the 詩經 or The Book of Songs, a collection of poetry dated to 1046–771 BC from the cultural region of the Zhou Dynasty. If there's a poem from the collection you'll like us to discuss at this meetup, please let us know in the comments!

Various translations of the Book of Songs we'll be using for our reading and discussion:

1. The classic mid-20th century English translation by Arthur Waley can be viewed here. Possibly still the best one in its combination of readability and fidelity to the original text.
2. The complete Chinese text with a classic 19th century translation by James Legge is available through the Chinese Text Project — you can get character-by-character translations of the Chinese by clicking on the blue arrows by each stanza and then hovering your cursor over individual characters.
3. A brand new 2025 translation by Edward Shaughnessy published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong is here. While new, I don't think it's necessarily better than the Waley or Legge, just different, and it's always nice to have another rendering to compare with. Shaughnessy also includes interpretive prologues to each poem which were interpolated by later Confucian scholars but which were NOT part of the original. (I suggest NOT reading the prologues until after thinking through the poetry for yourself.)
4. You can also copy the Chinese text into ChatGPT and ask it for a character-by-character translation which can be helpful and efficient for interpretive issues (better yet if you tell the A.I. to translate it from the "ancient Chinese" since the meanings of Chinese characters have shifted and evolved over the last 3000 years). If you're really serious about studying ancient Chinese texts though you need Paul Kroll's Student's Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese.

We previously discussed the selections from Michael Fuller's An Introduction to Chinese Poetry: From the Canon of Poetry to the Lyrics of the Song Dynasty (2018, Harvard University Press) which includes multiple translations of each poem. We'll return to this text when we're done with the Shijing.