Letters between Qin Jia and His Wife Xu Shu, 2nd century A.D.

[the_grynne]

Qin Jia was a poet and government official of the Eastern (Later) Han dynasty in China. His wife, Xu Shu, was also a poet. During the reign of Emperor Huan, Qin Jia was appointed to a post in distant Luoyang. He left without having the chance to say farewell to his wife, who was at her parents' home recovering from illness, and could not travel

Comments

[punkinelf]

This is wonderful! I am looking for some more of this on the internet, also for a book on Amazon. Is the new Chinese version up to the ancient Chinese? Perhaps it should have been rendered in (English) verse? Evocative words instead of prosaic. Must read more!

[the_grynne]

Ancient Chinese is extremely sparse, poetical in grammar, and contains allusions and words that aren't in common use nowadays, so it's difficult to read even for those literate in Chinese. The modern Chinese version is basically just a rendering of the meaning in more prosaic terms. The relationship is perhaps something like that between The Canterbury Tales in Old English, and a prose retelling in modern English.

The book I got these letters from (Chinese Short Letters Through the Ages) was published by the Chinese Translation and Publishing Corporation, part of a series directed at English-speakers. I'm not sure if it's available overseas.

[akosikae]

Did they ever see each other again?

[the_grynne]

From what I've been able to read about them, I think he died while he was away on that trip.