Lesson 1: 2 Must Know Famous Ancient Chinese Poems

Welcome to Lesson 1 (Level 4) of Ming Mandarin’s free online Mandarin Chinese lessons. In this lesson, I wish to share 2 very famous ancient Chinese poems. These are my favorite poems. As such, even if you are not learning Chinese language, you’ll appreciate the touching messages conveyed by these ancient Chinese poems.

Ancient Chinese Poem 1

Jing Ye Si (Thoughts upon a Quiet Night), by Li Bai

   静夜思

【作者】李白 【朝代】唐

床前明月光，

疑是地上霜。

举头望明月，

低头思故乡。

Pinyin

Jìngyè sī

[zuòzhě] lǐbái [cháodài] táng

chuáng qián míngyuèguāng,

yí shì dìshàng shuāng.

Jǔ tóu wàng míng yuè,

dītóu sī gùxiāng.

Translation (Jing Ye Si by Li Bai)

In front of my bed, there is this bright moonlight, I suspected as if frost appeared on the ground.

When I raise my head, I see the bright moon. When I lower my head, I think of my hometown.

• Lesson 1 (Level 1): Common Mandarin Chinese Verbs with Examples
• Lesson 1 (Level 2): How To Say “To Think” With 以为 In Chinese?
• Lesson 1 (Level 3): Learn Must Know Famous Chinese Idioms
• Lesson 1 (Level 4): 2 Must Know Famous Ancient Chinese Poems
• Lesson 1 (Level 5): Chinese Reading Practice with Pinyin & English

Appreciation

This is a poem about the homesickness of Li Bai, a vagabond traveler. The poem portrays the feeling of missing home upon a silent moonlit night. The first two sentences of the poem are about the illusion felt by the poet in the specific environment of being a guest in a foreign country. The last two sentences of the poem deepen the feeling of homesickness through the portrayal of gestures.

Ancient Chinese Poem 2:

Min Nong (Sympathy for the Peasants), by Li Shen

悯农

【作者】李绅 【朝代】唐

春种一粒粟，秋收万颗子。

四海无闲田，农夫犹饿死。

锄禾日当午，汗滴禾下土。

谁知盘中餐，粒粒皆辛苦。

Pinyin

Chūn zhǒng yī lì sù, qiūshōu wàn kē zi.

Sìhǎi wú xián tián, nóngfū yóu è sǐ.

Chú hé rì dāng wǔ, hàn dī hé xià tǔ.

Shéi zhī pán zhōngcān, lì lì jiē xīnkǔ.

Translation (Min Nong by Li Shen)

Plant one millet in spring, and harvest ten thousand seeds in autumn.

There is no unplanted (idle) land left in the world, (however) the farmer still starves to death.

At the sunny noon, they remove weeds with hoes, and their sweat drips into the soil.

Who knows that every grain of food in the bowl is the fruit of so much hard work and pain?

Appreciation

The poem “Min Nong” narrates the practical hardship faced by the typical peasants. At the beginning, this poem narrates a pleasant fruitful scene everywhere. However, from the second part of the second line, it highlights the practical problem of peasants’ hard work: despite good harvest, the peasants have empty hands and face starvation.

The first line of the poem depicts that “a grain of millet” gets transformed into “ten thousand seeds”. This essentially describes the bumper harvest and praises the peasants’ hard work.

The first part of the second line suggests that within the four seas, wasteland has become fertile land. Four seas in Min Nong refer to the whole country. Combined with the previous sentence, it constitutes a vivid scene of “gold” everywhere. Until this point, the poem uses progressive writing techniques to show the tremendous contribution and infinite creativity of the peasants.

However, the second line, “the farmer still starves to death”, not only makes the content of the front and back coherent, but also highlights the problem. The industrious farmers got a good harvest with their hands, but they themselves were still empty-handed and starved to death. Poetry forces people to think with a heavy heart about the question of “who caused this tragedy in this world”. The poet puts all this behind the scenes, allowing readers to find and think.

The answer can be found in the following Quotation of Karl Marx (1884):

“It is true that labor produces marvels for the rich, but it produces privation for the worker. It produces palaces, but hovels for the worker. It produces beauty, but deformity for the worker.”

The similar feelings are depicted in the last two lines of the poem. The poet asks, “Does anyone know that the grains of rice in the bowl are the result of the hard work of farmers?”

The implication is that people in the world should cherish every grain of meal and respect the hard work of the peasants.

The language of this poem is unpretentious, easy to understand, and very touching.

How do you feel about these two poems? Let me know in the comments.