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Tai Min (fl. 1170) was a native of Huangyen in Chekiang province and the father of Tai Fu-ku, who was a prominent poet of the Rivers and Lakes school of poetry. Neither the father nor the son (to whom some editions attribute this poem) served in the government. Here, the poet spends a day following the sun across a friend’s garden—from the eastern half that greets the sun to the western half that sees it off. The loquat looks similar to a small apricot and ripens in early summer, about the same time as the plum. Both are often enjoyed with rice wine or stronger spirits. It was during the Sung dynasty that garden landscape became a major art form, especially in such cities as Suchou and Hangchou. One mainland Chinese commentator complains that there is no social value in a poem such as this. Indeed, one cannot put a price on it.

Visiting Chang’s Garden at the Beginning of Summer

TAI MIN

Ducklings in a pond of deep and shallow water

plum-season weather partly clear and cloudy

taking wine to the East Garden we get drunk in the West

beneath a loquat tree picked clean of gold