Years of Poems and Spirits

The Author

Name: Yibing Wu (吴一冰)
Birth Place: Beijing, China
Educations:
    Beijing No. 4 Middle School (北京四中)
    China University of Science and Technology (中国科技大学)
    University of Maryland, College Park
Career:
    From 1993 – 2005: Software Engineer. Still run a consulting shop.
    Sept. 2005 – Present: Graduate Student, International Studies. Henry M. Jackson School, University of Washington.
     Here is a short essay from my school application.
     … and a further simplied version.
Contact:
    Mail: yibing.wu at gmail.com
    Blog: http://www.wuyibing.com

The Title

The title derives from a Song poem:
春未老，风细柳斜斜。试上超然台上看，半壕春水一城花，烟雨暗千家。
寒食后，酒醒却咨嗟。休对故人思故国，且将新火试新茶，诗酒趁年华。

The author, Su Dong-Po (苏东坡), is my favorite poet and this poem, to me, is one of the most endearing.

I always admire Su’s wit, intelligence and sensibility. He stood out among his contemporaries for being a what we today would call “existentialist”. He constantly explored human emotions and sensibilities, but never dwelled on them. Instead, from his works, one finds a profound appreciation of “being alive”.