REPUBLIC PERIOD (1911-1949)

The couplet is taken from A Poem for Fan Ye by the Liu Song dynasty (420-479) poet, Lu Kai, written to his friend Fan Ye (398-445), who was a historian that compiled the historical text Hou Hanshu (Book of the Later Han). The couplet may be translated as: 'There is nothing (special) in the Jiangnan region, therefore I could only send you a branch of prunus blossom.'