Nine Peaks

This book contains twenty-four poems composed in classical Chinese by Rhee Sukho, a Korean scholar of classical Chinese literature. Most modern Korean men of letters write in Korean. But there still are a few who compose in classical Chinese, of whom Rhee Sukho is one. This literary activity, though confined to a few trained in the scholarship of classical Chinese studies, manifests their zeal to maintain and preserve the scholarly tradition of reading and writing in classical Chinese. Rhee Sukho, a Korean scholar of classical Chinese literature, is one of the few who still compose poems in classical Chinese. Sung-Il Lee, who has translated the poems into English, is an admirer of the poet's scholarly career. Though he has not received a formal training in the scholarship of classical Chinese, he confesses that he felt obligated to translate the works of one whom he admires as man and poet.