“To the European poet the relation between man and woman is a thing of supreme importance and mystery. To the Chinese, it is something commonplace, obvious—a need of the body, not a satisfaction of the emotions.”

— Arthur Waley

A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1919), Introduction, p. 18

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Arthur Waley 21

British academic 1889–1966

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“To the European poet the relation between man and woman is a thing of supreme importance and mystery. To the Chinese, it is something commonplace, obvious—a need of the body, not a satisfaction of the emotions.”

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