This is selected form a publication( Bilingual Edition 300 Tang Poems, Higher Education Press,2000.8, by Professor Xu Yuanchong, Peking University.) Though highly praised, there r some mistakes in Mr Xu's translations. for example, 'never tip his golden cup empty toward the moon' is not the equivalent for 莫使金樽空对月. The translator had misread the original meaning of the author, which can be interpreted as NEVER LET YOUR GOLD CUP LIE IDLE IN THE MOONLIGHT! The translator , patently, had misunderstood the 空 as EMPTY, yet it here in the verse intended FOR NOTHING, IN VAIN, GOING VALUELESS.

BRINGING IN THE WINE Li Bai See how the Yellow River's waters move out of heaven. Entering the ocean, never to return. See how lovely locks in bright mirrors in high chambers, Though silken-black at morning, have changed by night to snow. ...Oh, let a man of spirit venture where he pleases And never tip his golden cup empty toward the moon! Since heaven gave the talent, let it be employed! Spin a thousand pieces of silver, all of them come back! Cook a sheep, kill a cow, whet the appetite, And make me, of three hundred bowls, one long drink! ...To the old master, Cen, And the young scholar, Danqiu, Bring in the wine! Let your cups never rest! Let me sing you a song! Let your ears attend! What are bell and drum, rare dishes and treasure? Let me be forever drunk and never come to reason! Sober men of olden days and sages are forgotten, And only the great drinkers are famous for all time. ...Prince Chen paid at a banquet in the Palace of Perfection Ten thousand coins for a cask of wine, with many a laugh and quip. Why say, my host, that your money is gone? Go and buy wine and we'll drink it together! My flower-dappled horse, My furs worth a thousand, Hand them to the boy to exchange for good wine, And we'll drown away the woes of ten thousand generations!