Shi Jing is named the Most Beautiful Book



Shi Jing, the Chinese’s Book of Songs, has been named the Most Beautiful Book in the World.

It was honoured at the annual Most Beautiful Book in the World competition held in Leipzig, Germany recently.

Twenty-one other Chinese books including Transmission and Integration - Research and Annotation on Illustrated Description of Extraordinary Devices also took part in the event, Shanghai News and Press Bureau reported.

This year's competition saw the participation of a total of 634 books from 32 countries and regions, an increase of 1.28 per cent from the previous year.

This award-winning version of Shi Jing - published by the Higher Education Press and designed by Liu Xiaoxiang - was favoured by the panel because of its elegance, simplicity and originality.

According to Wikipedia, Shi Jing is the earliest collection of Chinese poems.

It comprises 305 poems, some possibly written as early as 1000BC. Over half of the poems are said to have originally been popular songs which concern basic human problems such as love, marriage, work and war.

Others include court poems and legendary accounts praising the founders of the Zhou dynasty as well as hymns used in sacrificial rites and songs used by the arisotracy in their sacrificial ceremonies or at banquets.