In November of 2021, Elon Musk posted an old Chinese poem on Twitter, which quickly went viral and garnered attention from mainstream media. In From China With Love, translator Ji Chen offers readers and Elon Musk alike twenty ancient Chinese poems (including the one tweeted by Musk and nineteen he hasn’t posted yet), in both the original Chinese and English. All of the fourteen ancient Chinese poets in this book—which includes biographies of each of them—lived many centuries ago and combine to paint a vivid picture of the geography and culture of the era. The book also features translations for 101 of the most used Chinese characters many of which are used throughout the poetry. This pocket-sized gift informs and enlightens twenty-first century readers in a way that no other book of ancient Chinese poetry has done before.

Ji Chen is a longtime professional translator and lexicographer. He is currently an interpreter at the United Nations and resides in New York City.