Author Description

This is a collection of over 200 regulated Chinese poems, written between 1946 and 2001 by He Li, who styled himself Liweng (meaning "Old Man Li") in his later years. More than a poetic chronicle of one man's life and his era, it is also a meditation on how poetry shaped that life; amid decades of personal and national upheaval, classical verse offered the author joy, solace, moral clarity, and strength. His writing stands as a living expression of the Chinese literati tradition-a synthesis of ethical reflection, refined language, and inward resilience. This work carries that tradition into the modern century, showing how classical verse can still empower us with elegant strength-and rekindle our desire to embrace it.