Dao De Jing

This bold new translation by two brilliant poets offers a contemporary perspective on a timeless masterpiece of Daoist scripture, introducing Dao De Jing to a new audience while retaining the majesty of the Chinese original. Composed of eighty-one short poems written by the sage Laozi in 400 BC, Dao De Jing is one of the pillars of Chinese thought. Acclaimed poet Li-Young Lee and poet and scholar Yun Wang illuminate Dao De Jing as a unified work of art. This revelatory and faithful translation-presented alongside the original Chinese text-reveals its enduring teachings in their profound simplicity, subtlety and balance.

About the author

Li–Young Lee is a poet and translator. He received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for Lifetime Achievement, among other awards. Lee lives in Chicago.Yun Wang, a poet and cosmologist, is the author of three volumes of poetry. Raised in rural southwest China, she lives in California.

Product details

• Authors: Laozi
• Assisted by: Li-Young Lee (Translation), Lee Li-Young (Translation), Yun Wang (Translation), Wang Yun (Translation)
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 10.03.2026
• EAN: 9781324123446
• ISBN: 978-1-324-12344-6
• No. of pages: 192
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Other religions; Poetry, POETRY / Ancient & Classical, RELIGION / Ancient, PHILOSOPHY / Taoist, RELIGION / Taoism, Ancient religions & mythologies, East Asian and Indian philosophy, Oriental & Indian philosophy, Taoism, Ancient religions and Mythologies, Classic poetry / poems