Mao Zedong wrote dozens of poems in his whole life. His poem Long March, included in Red Star over China by revered American journalist Edgar Snow, was the first one made public. Since then, a total of 39 poems were published one after another after his examination and revision. Selected Poems of Mao Zedong, published by the People's Literature Publishing House in 1986, included 50 poems. The Collection of Mao Zedong's Poems, which was compiled and published by the Party Literature Research Center under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CCCPC) in 1996, collected 67 poems. These poems are largely the quintessence of his work, and are considered widespread, far-reaching ones in modem poetic history as well.
  
The wide spread of Mao Zedong's poems is contributed by their rich ideas, heroic spirit and everlasting artistic charm. These poems, depicting China's revolution and construction undertakings with epic characteristics, composed the strongest melody of the time through artistic techniques, and finally became an important part of Mao Zedong Thought. It's an important subject of research on him, because they reflected his heroic and magnificent inner world as well as his personality the most. Many lines in his poems are regarded as textbook or motto for life. Except some classical poems of Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties, every Chinese can utter several lines from Mao's poems. His poems are highly praised for their rich philosophic connotation, strong aesthetic meaning, rich and profound content, and artistic delicacy. Mao Zedong was good at describing modem life through classical poem, this helped to ease the conflict between classical and modem poetry, and accordingly gained an important position in modem poetic history.
  
Mao Zedong's poems are no doubt a dazzling pearl in Chinese literature history. As a statesman, he is great; as a poet, his experiences, knowledge and ambitions make his poems widely spread and read. His calligraphic works are elegant, fluent and impressive as well, with different-style handwritings for about 50 poems left. Both his poem and handwriting were excellent and well combined.

Xu Yuanchong Born in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province in 1921, he graduated from the Southwest Associated University and University de Paris. As a professor of literary translation at Peking University, his English publications include On Chinese Verse in English Rhyme - From the Book of Poetry to the Romance of the Western Bower and Vanished Springs, which was prefaced by C.N. Yang, the 1957 Nobel Prize winner for physics. His Chinese publications include The Art of Translation, Literary Translation Theories and Vanished Springs. In addition to Songs of the Immortals, which was published by Penguin Books, he has translated many Chinese literary classics into English or French, such as Tile Book Of Poetry, The Songs of the South, 300 Tang Poems, 300 Song Lyrics. Selected Poems of Li Bai, Poems and Lyrics of Su Dongpo, The Romance of the Western Bower and The Selected Poems of Mao Zedong. Of them The Songs of the South was acclaimed as "a peak of English and American literature," and Th