We can understand a people best through their poetry

and the Chinese

who have written poetry since the beginning of time

have always regarded poetry as the finest flower of their culture. All Chinese poetry is song

to be sung in a high-pitched voice in all ages. We cannot imitate those voices

for our language consists of interminable long words without the pitch and vibrancy of the Chinese monosyllables

but at least we can know what they thought and how they dreamed through the long nights of their long wars. Chinese poets have made language finer than the softest silk. They have deliberately cultivated their sensibilities until the sound of a petal falling may be louder than the crash of kingdoms. Though Chinese people has suffered much from war

poverty and the endless cycle of life and death

their poetry is mournful but not distressing

joyous but not indecent

with the virtue of moderation. Chinese poetry for all its quietness is the sign of their spiritual strength. Translation would fail to convey the sensuous quality and the compelling force of the Chinese characters

the color of a Chinese page

and something else

but what remains is the spirit of Chinese poetry. Through the bridge of translation

we shall share the same sorrows

griefs

hopes and joys. The western readers who are constantly changing

at the mercy of every influx of scientific ideas

may do well to ponder sometimes the poetry of these people who are as unchanging as the stars.