Why subscribe?

Why anything? I’ve spent either too much or not enough time with Chinese literature to do anything else with my life, and this is where I post things that I find interesting, or funny, or beautiful. I liked them, so I translated them and shared them in the hopes that you or somebody like you would enjoy them too.

I launched this with a translation of the 17th-century critic Jin Shengtan’s 金聖嘆 “33 Nice Things” 不亦快哉33則 — one of the most likable pieces of writing I know of in any language — and have some notes on my translation process in a post about the Yuan-dynasty poet Qiao Ji’s 喬吉 “Explaining Myself” 自述 — but you can begin anywhere you want.

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That’s Substack’s headline, not mine, but I promise to keep you abreast of any 17th century developments as soon as I become aware of them.

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Scrutable Occidental, erstwhile 北漂, quondam translator, congenital Philadelphian.