Library

Professor Cai Zongqi, a well-known scholar in the field of Sinology in the United States, has accumulated 40 years of research and 30 years of teaching experience to publish the popular work "Why Tang Poetry Is What It Is", which condenses a lifetime of skills. The book selects 72 classic Tang poems, conducts comparative analysis of the three genres of rhymed poetry, quatrains, and ancient poetry, and systematically explains the formal characteristics and artistic characteristics of different poetry styles. It innovatively divides poetry into 13 theme categories, and clearly presents the unique skills of famous poets in handling themes through comparative interpretation of works with the same theme. It uses modern linguistic analysis methods to conduct layer-by-layer analysis from calligraphy, syntax, and composition to reveal the inner texture of "why" each poem is good and the artistic rules of poetry creation. The author uses his profound knowledge of cross-cultural poetics to break the limitations of traditional appreciation of "poems based on poems", which can be regarded as another example of contemporary appreciation of Tang poetry.