Chinese classics and translations

May 14, 2006 9:25 AM

Chinese classics and translations. A collection of some of the greatest works of Chinese literature in the original chinese and translated in English and French. Every Chinese character is also a link to a chinese dictionary, allowing you to translate on the fly. Includes the Yi Jing The Book of Changes, Dao De Jing The Way and Its Power, The Analects of Confucius, Sun Tzu's Art of War and many more.
posted by afu (16 comments total)

Best of the web.
posted by Wolfdog at 9:28 AM on May 14, 2006

Stunning, fascinating, brilliantly executed. Thank you for posting this, afu.
posted by GrammarMoses at 10:08 AM on May 14, 2006

Here are over 100 different English translations of Chapter 1 of the Tao Te Ching. The diversity of styles and interpretations is astonishing. The same website also features essays by Kenneth Rexroth on the Tao Te Ching, The Dream of the Red Chamber and other Chinese novels, the poetry of Tu Fu, The Tale of Genji, and many other Far Eastern classics, as well as Rexroth's translations of Chinese poetry.
posted by Bureau of Public Secrets at 10:12 AM on May 14, 2006

Wow. I'm stuck here for months ahead. Thanks for posting this.
posted by semmi at 10:22 AM on May 14, 2006

On a related note, if you find Chinese (or Japanese) text that you'd like to read along with, POPjisyo has a bookmarklet that will mark up every character in an entire page with javascript hovers showing pronunciation and translation. Here's an example.
posted by RobotAdam at 11:28 AM on May 14, 2006

Best of the web indeed. Amazing. Thanks, afu.
posted by languagehat at 11:49 AM on May 14, 2006

Fabulous. I love all this ebooks stuff and such. Thanks!
posted by bim at 12:08 PM on May 14, 2006

Hmm.

Legend has it that after leaving he decided to travel westward riding an oxen. At this time a purple cloud started to hoover over him. Thus this journey is generally referred to as the Purple Cloud from the East. One day he came to China's westmost outpost. [...] At this point Lao Tze wrote a 5,000 word essay titled Tao Te Ching. After he finished the essay, Lao Tze continued his westward journey and not to be heard from again.

I think he was sucked up into the purple cloud.
posted by pracowity at 1:50 PM on May 14, 2006

Wow, thank you so much. I've been trying to read classical Chinese on my own but it's so hard with only a paper dictionary. I wish though that they have Zhuangzi as well.
posted by state fxn at 2:33 PM on May 14, 2006

i got wayyyy too excited when i misread an early comment thinking it said the dream of the red chamber was on there rather than essays ABOUT the dream of the red chamber. i'd do anything to be able to get the entire classic as beautifully translated and readily available as the three volumes still in print. sigh.

but yay to tu fu. god, i love chinese classic romance literature.
posted by ifjuly at 3:14 PM on May 14, 2006

that POPjisyo sight is really nice. To think I've been waisting all my time with the google translation system...
posted by afu at 9:26 PM on May 14, 2006 [1 favorite]

Fantastic, thank you. And also thanks to Bureau of Public Secrets for the added value!
posted by Rumple at 12:16 AM on May 15, 2006

Great post. Thanks.
posted by dhruva at 1:03 AM on May 15, 2006

Nifty
posted by Smedleyman at 9:57 AM on May 15, 2006

Excellent. Thanks.
posted by arcticwoman at 2:27 PM on May 15, 2006

Wow. Way cool! Thank you!
posted by nickyskye at 3:39 PM on May 25, 2006