Lauded as one of the most important contemporary Chinese poets, Yang Jian was born in Anhui province in 1967. He paints in ink and leads a Buddhist life in Ma'anshan.

Green Mountain compiles a representative selection of lyrical poems by contemporary Chinese poet and painter Yang Jian, also a Buddhist, in Fiona Sze-Lorrain's elegant translation. Exploring history, faith, memory, nature, and the various transient complexities of human existence, these poems seek a pure form of simplicity in thought and style, reminiscent of meditative beauty and Asian ink-wash painting aesthetics.