The Chinese Text Initiative presents a collection of classical Chinese texts, primarily from the Tang period (618-907) and earlier. Currently, only six texts are available, four of which are accompanied by partial or complete English translations. The first is 300 Tang Poems (Tang shi sanbai shou, 1763), an 18th-century anthology of Tang poems edited by Sun Zhu. The second is the Yu Xuan Ji, which consists of 49 poems by a young poetess named Yu Xuanji (844-871). The other texts in English are the Book of Odes (Shijing) and Ancient Ballads and Proverbs (Gu Yao Yan, ca. mid-1800s). The first is fully bilingual and consists of 311 poems dating from the Zhou Dynasty (1027-771 BCE) to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BCE). The second text consists of ballads and proverbs dating from the ancient period (as early as 17th century BCE) to the Ming period (1368-1644). This site is also useful for viewing original scans of the Chinese manuscript pages. For illustrated manuscript pages, see especially “Leinu Zhuan.”