In the life and history of the Chinese people, nothing is more tightly woven into their culture than poetry.

Composed by emperors and scholar-officials as well as peasants and farmers, poetry was the means by which they expressed their happiness and sadness, political anger and courtship.

Chinese poetry dates back to the Hsia dynasty (2205 BC), however the first known anthology of Chinese poetry date back to 600 BC. Chinese poetry, much like Japanese poetry, has gained wider popularity in the West over the recent years. There are several reasons, with the major one being accessibility. Chinese poetry is amazingly humanistic and commonsensical. Whereas European poetry tends towards flights of fancy, wordplay and the supernatural, Chinese poetry is firmly entrenched in the terra of life.