History of this site: Magic Island Poetry Database was first created on Nov 27, 1999, for the purpose of storing and displaying my own poems. Then in March 2000, I set out to build a database of Chinese poetry, and in May I expanded my site by adding databases of foreign poetry in Chinese translations and of foreign poetry either in the original or in English.

Overview of this site: All the work relating to the maintenance and expansion of this site is done by Magic Stone (my English pseudonym) alone. The poems are either input by Magic Stone by typing or scanning, or collected from other sites and rearranged. By its fifth anniversary, the site was accommodating 3998 modern Chinese poems, 110205 classical Chinese poems, 3708 foreign poems in Chinese and 21254 poems from all over the world either in the original or in English.

Disclaimer of liability: In view of the changeability of the Internet environment, I think the best way to maintain an all-time accessible poetry database is to "steal" poetry from other sites and store all of them on my virtual hosts in case these sites move or simply disappear. I am well aware of the moral even legal risks, but my purposes are honorable and I will never use the resources on my site for any commercial purposes or purposes beyond artistic appreciation and academic research. And with acceptance of similar conditions, any individual or organization is free to use these resources without the obligation of informing me in advance. If any site from which I have taken some poems regards my behavior as offensive and unacceptable, please notify me and I will right my wrong at the earliest time possible.