This collection of Jidi Majia’s poetry in Chinese has been translated into the three strands of the Scots language: Lallans by Stuart Paterson, Doric by Sheena Blackhall and Shetlandic by Christine de Luca. These translations are on the opposite page to an English translation by the eminent translator from Chinese, Denis Mair, who has also written an afterword on the context of Jidi Majia's heritage and poetry.

Jidi Majia’s Scots translators have undoubtedly brought his vitality into alignment with the power of the Scots tongues, as does Denis Mair’s excellent and erudite rendering into English. Aimed at two linguistic communities and coming from a linguistic community at the other side of the planet, this collection presents a perfect symmetry in a globalised world where we need a dialogue not only between the powerful but also and perhaps even more rewardingly between the local and marginalised. The infinite is often to be encountered in the circumscribed.