“The dictionary is based on the hypothesis – obviously an unproven one – that languages are made up of equivalent synonyms.” - Jorge Luis Borges
This website is intended as a call-back to how I remember the internet of the nineties. It was a place where hobbyists would publish pages related to their interests in a world that was more simple and straightforward than it is now. It was full of websites built with care and attention that no-one visited. And it didn’t matter so much.
While I don’t profess to being an expert or having any academic expertise of note, I’ve long been interested in classical Chinese literature. I enjoy the process of translation: uncovering and interpreting multiple layers of meaning.
When I find a piece of poetry or prose to translate, I’ll post my translations on this site. As the old saying goes, pao zhuan yin yu 拋磚引玉, may the bricks that I have cast attract jade.
My main sources for this work are resources that were not available to me when I was a student. This includes the excellent Student’s Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese (3rd Edition) compiled by Paul W. Kroll, Professor Emeritus of Chinese at the University of Colorado, Boulder. I use as a reference De Gruyter’s Library of Chinese Humanities, compiled by leading academics including Sarah M. Allen, Paul W. Kroll, Christopher M. B. Nugent, Stephen Owen, Anna M. Shields, Xiaofei Tian and Ding Xiang Warner.
I built this website myself using a customised version of the Hitchens theme, powered by Jekyll. Each translation on this site is a living document, and will be continually altered and refined after publication.