LI JIAN (LI CHIEN) (1747-1799)

Li Jian was from Shunde, Guangdong Province. A master painter, poet and calligrapher, his father was a businessman. He was an autodidact, well-educated in the classics, and a Daoist and a Buddhist. He was throughout his life a prolific poet--so much so that he published a collection consisting of 1862 poems! His health was very bad for much of his life, and he was confined to a sickbed for years. He is considered to be one of the Four Masters of Lingnan.
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The Village Drinks

Each family has saved wine money to drink in this village
where outside the bamboo fence by wild plum trees
people chat about how long rice and silk prices have been double
and tell the old to stop bragging about their prime.

They walk home late in fine drizzle through green grass.
There is an east wind, and cows sleep on fallen petals.
The rice seedlings are long and budding mulberry leaves are short.
It's a busy springtime below a Cold Food sky.

        ---Translated by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping

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Note: Cold Food refers to the period between the 105th and 107th days after the Winter Solstice, during which one is only supposed to eat cold food.