ABSTRACT
The history of Chinese poetry begins around 600 b.c.e. with the compilation of an anthology, the Shi Jing ([Shih ching] Book of Odes or Book of Songs), containing poems that probably date back several centuries earlier. The tradition continues with barely a break, down to the present day. Naturally, such an extended period of development saw the evolution of a number of different poetic forms and styles, and countless ebbs and flows in the tide of artistic inspiration.
