Publisher's Synopsis
The 501 quatrains of Second Best Moments in Chinese History make it seem at first like a repackaged version of Frank Kuppner's celebrated first collection A Bad Day for the Sung Dynasty (1984). But it isn't: 'Please note that this is a completely different work, although it is formally identical and very similar in its preoccupations.' Its tone is different -- something to do with maturity and cadencing, which make the laughter and heartbreak more intense, more political. 'Basically,' he confides, 'it is an attempt to get it completely right this time.'
