Four Seasons, Walk Slowly. [Photo/amazon.cn]
Within Chinese lunar calendar, Tuesday marks the beginning of 19th solar term: Start of Winter. As an ancient Chinese poem notes, "Little smart swallow under the roof, in summer flutter around, in winter hide itself."
In traditional Chinese culture, winter is a period of time to "hide" and to prepare for the new development in the coming spring. Thus it is a good time to study, to gain more knowledge and skills to use in the New Year.
Here are three new books to enjoy and learn something useful at the same time.
A page from Four Seasons, Walk Slowly. [Photo/amazon.cn]
Four Seasons, Walk Slowly
Published in October, the book is a record of plants grown in North China around the year. Beijing-based author Nian Gao is a post-80s who was born in Hainan province. Having a strong interest in nature, she painted more than 100 most representative plants that are often overlooked by people.
The color printed book is a good guide for nature lovers, and an ideal reading for leisure time.
Children's Poems. [Photo/amazon.cn]
Children's Poems
As everything turns digital nowadays, even AI can write poems. Yet real poems should emerge from real feelings, should have warmth and should be hard to replicate. For example, those works from the most innocent creatures in the human world: children.
The newly published book is a collection of poems written by a group of Chinese children aged 3-12. It also has collected poems from famous poet Gu Cheng when he was young.
From these poems, people can go back to a pure and simple world without lust and judgments again.
A page from Children's Poems. [Photo/amazon.cn]
Hanging Around in the Wild. [Photo/amazon.cn]
Hanging Around in the Wild
In this picture book, people are featured as small as insects; however the grass and fruits are portrayed as large as a tall building.
They look funny, yet with an aloof and lovely air.
As an architect, the author Yu Shan often mediates on the relations between modern humans and architectures. He wants to feature a poetic world where people can relax and enjoy nature.
The paintings in the book are also a creative use of traditional ink works.
A page from Hanging Around in the Wild. [Photo/amazon.cn]
