Battle of Ningyuan (寧遠之戰, 영원성 전투) (Source)
One of the books I purchased during my stay in Korea was an anthology of Qing dynasty Classical Chinese poetry (淸代詩選, 청대시선), translated by Kim Hakju (金學主, 김학주) a professor at Seoul National University and published by Myungmundang (明文堂, 명문당). Since most of the Classical Chinese poems by Chinese poets I have read before were from the Tang dynasty (唐, 당, 618-907), I found this work very refreshing. About half of the book is on poets from the early period of the Qing dynasty, i.e., 17th century. Many of them reflect upon the turbulence of the Manchu invasions of China (1613-1683). I found these poems so interesting and insightful that I have decided to translate a few of them into English and will publish them in upcoming blog posts. I do acknowledge that this is somewhat outside what I usually post, but I do hope readers appreciate these poems as much as I did. (As many might already know, the fall of the Ming dynasty was also quite important in Korean history as well as Chinese history.)
I will be covering these poets: Qian Qianyi (錢謙益, 전겸익, 1582-1664), Wu Weiye (吳偉業, 오위업, 1609-1672), Huang Zongxi (黃宗羲, 홍종희, 1610-1695), Gu Wanyu (顧炎武, 고염무, 1613-1682), Wu Jiaji (吳嘉紀, 오가기, 1618-1684), and Qu Dayun (屈大筠, 굴대균, 1630-1696). If there are any others whose works readers would like to see translated, please let me know via email (kuiwonblog[at]gmail.com) or comments.
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