Three Hundred Tang Poems is the oldest book on my shelf.
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history
Compiled around 1763 by Qing scholar 孙洙 (Sūn Zhū, pen name 蘅塘退士) as a child's reader. The proverb 熟读唐诗三百首,不会作诗也会吟 — 'read the Three Hundred Tang Poems till you know them, and even a non-poet will be able to recite' — appears in his preface and remains the standard pitch for memorising it.
culture
Despite the title there are 311 (some editions 313) poems by ~77 poets. Heavy on 李白, 杜甫, 王维, 白居易. Functions as the Tang-poetry canon for school curricula across the Sinosphere — Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Korea all use editions of it.
