The books collected in this volume represent the first time since the
mid-nineteenth century that the four seminal masterworks of ancient Chinese
thought have been translated as a unified series by a single translator.
Hinton's award-winning experience translating a wide range of ancient Chinese
poets makes these books sing in English as never before. But these new versions
are not only inviting and immensely readable, they also apply much-needed
consistency to key philosophical terms in these texts, lending structural links
and philosophical rigor heretofore unavailable in English. Breathing new life
into these originary classics, Hinton's new translations will stand as the
definitive texts for our era.
Perhaps the most