Chinese Era

Begin your journey at chinese-era.sangsara.net

Ancient Chinese poetry exists in a handful of books — a small number of landmark English translations that have defined how the Western world reads Chinese verse. Whereas classical Chinese paintings are scattered around the world: in the collections of private owners, and museums like the Met and the Smithsonian. Chinese Era tries bringing them together into the same space, just to see what happens.

Each pairing is a poem and a painting from the past, two treasures in conversation. The random engine produces combinations that probably no curator would make, producing associations that couldn’t be planned. You can inspect the full artwork, or put on a live stream of traditional Chinese music for atmosphere. When you’re ready, the next pair will be waiting.

The poems draw from three translations — Waley, Giles, and Bynner — 493 in total, each translator bringing different instincts about what classical Chinese poetry should sound like in English. The number of possible artworks on display exceeds that, and may keep growing as sources are added. If you’re new to this world, congratulations, this might be the start of your Chinese era.