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EARLY MUME BLOSSOMS

Zhang Wei

(Tang Dynasty)

Like belts of white jade the cold-proof mume branches look,

Beside the pathway near the bridge over a brook.

If you don't know riverside blossoms early blow,

You would take them for last winter's unmelted snow.

早梅

[唐]张谓

一树寒梅白玉条,迥临村路傍溪桥。

不知近水花先发,疑是经冬雪未销。

About the poet 

Zhang Wei was a Tang Dynasty (618-907) poet who created many works about toasting friendships during a farewell.

About the translator 

Xu Yuanchong (1921-2021) was born in Nanchang in East China's Jiangxi Province. He was a professor of literary translation at Peking University.

About the book

300 Tang Poems Translated by Xu Yuanchong Published by China Intercontinental Press, Beijing, 2018