Chinese poetry

[skylee]

I love Chinese poetry (I don't mean that I know many of them or have done any scholarly study). In my teens I went to one of the few Chinese-teaching middle schools in Hong Kong (most schools taught in English at that time) and Chinese literature was heavy in the syllabus. Our teachers encouraged us to read classical literature, and poetry was the easiest to pick up. And we learnt mostly those from Tang and Song Dynasties. There is a Chinese saying that goes something like "learn the 300 poems of Tang Dynasty, when you can't compose a peom you can steal one". So it is a good way to learn writing Chinese. In fact these poems are a main source of Chinese idioms, sayings, etc.

And it always amazes me how easily the language of some of these poems, written over a thousand years ago, can be understood nowadays. Here are two examples -

人皆養子望聰明，我被聰明誤一生。惟願孩兒愚且魯，無災無難到公卿。 ("洗兒" - 蘇軾 (宋))

我住長江頭，君住長江尾， 日日思君不見君，共飲長江水。此水幾時休，此恨何時已，只願君心似我心，定不負相思意。 ("卜算子" - 李之儀 (宋))

And if you happen to like the songs of Teresa Tang, I remember she made an album in the 1980's in which all the lyrics were from poems of Song Dynasty. They were SUPERB. One of the songs in that album is "水調歌頭". The poem, also by Su Shi, is timeless, and the song is so good that Faye Wong remade it in the 1990's. I wish I could buy Tang's album but I don't remember its name.

[wix]

Here is the poem by Li Bai 李白 It is quite easy to remember.

床前明月光

疑是地上霜

舉頭望明月

低頭思故鄉

[skylee]

Yes that is Li Bai's "夜思", my first Tang poem I think. My nine-year old niece recently showed off to me that she could recite "夜思" and Meng Haoran's "春曉", although she didn't know the meanings yet -

春眠不覺曉

處處聞啼鳥

夜來風雨聲

花落知多少

Young kids usually learn five-worded "Jue" poems (五言絕詩, four parts each with five words), which are the shortest. Another popular style is "L

[skylee]

It was the Mid-Autumn Festival a few days ago, and I kept hearing people recite the very romantic phrase -

但願人長久 千里共嬋娟

The next major traditional Chinese Festival is Chong Yang Jie (重陽節) on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month (4 October 2003). The tradition is that people should go hill-climbing to avoid illness/danger. People often take the opportunity to clean the graves of and pay respect to their ancestors. And here is a poem from the Tang Dynasty about this festival -

《九月九日憶山東兄弟》- 王維

獨在異鄉為異客

每逢佳節倍思親

遙知兄弟登高處

遍插茱萸少一人

[shimingchunjianzhong]

I saw an america textbook of Asian literature.In the part of Chinese literature,it contains some poems of Hanshan,Li Bai(Li Po),Du Fu(Tu Fu)and Bai Juyi.Not a poem of Song Dynasty or other dynasties was mentioned. Who is considered as the best Chinese poet in non-Chinese world?And who is Hanshan?I have never heard of him.

[skylee]

Among Tang poets, many people would say Du Fu was the greatest. I like Bai Juyi much better though.

As to Hanshan, I guess it is 寒山, a buddhist monk in Tang Dynasty. Here is some information. I personally know nothing about him. Yet the website says his poems are popular in Japan and America because the language is simple and direct. I find them too unpolished and lacking in elegance, when compared to, say, "古詩十九首".

[芳芳]

Here is a poem of 张继 Zhangji （Tang dynasty) where 寒山 Hanshan (better say, the temple dedicated to him) is mentionned.

It is also to me a wonderful poem (being aware of the fact that I really don't know a lot）

枫桥夜泊

月落乌啼霜满天，

江枫渔火对愁眠。

姑苏城外寒山寺，

夜半钟声到客船。

A traduction in english (not from me:wink:, I denie every details that could be criticised in it, and add I could never do as well)

Night Mooring at Maple Bridge

The moon's low, a crow caws,

The landscape's laced with frost.

Under the riverside maples,

Lit by fishing lamps,

My sadness keeps me from sleep.

Beyond the walls of Gusu,

Down to the traveler's boats,

Han Shan's Temple bell

Rings clear -

Right at midnight.

[Guest 北洋大臣]

樓小能容膝

簷高老樹齊

開軒平北斗

翻覺太行低

[pazu]

Have you heard this, written by Li Bai 李白.

I first read this in 神鵰俠侶 (a novel) by Jin Yong (金庸)

秋風清　秋月明

落葉聚還散

寒鴉棲復驚

相知相見知何日

此時此夜難為情

入我相思門　知我相思苦

長相思兮長相憶

短相思兮無窮極

早知如此絆人心

何如當初未相識

I like this poem.

The first part of this poem depicts a lonely scene: the weather was so fine, the sky was clear, it was probably the 15th day of month (full moon day), and should remind you of your family, your friends, and your love(s). But somehow you saw fallen leaves and heard crow voice, you were so lonely.

Then the second part turns into the description of your heart, Li Bai said, come to my door of lovesick and you know the bitterness of it, only if I known it would be such a burden to my heart, it would be better we hadn't met before.

[skylee]

The next major Chinese festival to come is of course the Chinese new year. Can anyone think of a poem about this festival?

I only remember one about the first full moon (元宵, Lantern Festival) on the 15th day of the first month. It is called "生查子" and was written by 歐陽修. It goes like this -

去年元夜時 花市燈如晝

月上柳梢頭 人約黃昏後

今年元夜時 月與燈依舊

不見去年人 淚濕春衫袖

A very simple and easy poem describing the festival and the sadness of lost love. Nowadays, "月上柳梢頭 人約黃昏後" is often quoted to describe lovers going out after work.

[skylee]

張繼 wrote 楓橋夜泊 with a leaden heart, because he had just failed the mandarin selection examination. But this one poem has become a classic and brought him fame lasting for over 1200 years.

Here is the story (and more) in traditional Chinese.

[Ian_Lee]

Japanese love Zhangji's poem more than most Chinese do.

Hang Shan temple has been auctioning the ritual of ringing the first bell at midnite on New Year's eve. The top bidder last year was a Japanese tourist who bid a sum of something like RMB 3,888.

Such phenomenon has proliferated to such extent that the ringing of all the temple bells in Suzhou on New Year's eve are auctioned. But the supply still cannot satisfy the Japanese tourists' poetic appetite. So even temples as far as as Wu Shih auctioned this ritual too.

Such cultural tour offered to Japanese tourists make big bucks for China's tourism industry.

But it doesn't work for South Korean tourists. Most of them just know hangul and couldn''t even recite their own medieval peoms composed by hangmun (Chinese).

[markalexander100]

The next major Chinese festival to come is of course the Chinese new year. Can anyone think of a poem about this festival?

One by Su Shi: http://www.chinese-poems.com/su2.html (simplified and traditional characters). I did the translation a while ago, so I can't vouch for its accuracy, but the Chinese text should be OK.

[pazu]

張繼 wrote 楓橋夜泊 with a leaden heart' date=' because he had just failed the mandarin selection examination. But this one poem has become a classic and brought him fame lasting for over 1200 years.

Here is the story (and more) in traditional Chinese.

And I was lured to make a visit to Hang Shan Temple because of this poem. What else could be a better way to generate more entrance fees for such a temple? And it's a way to tell you how well the minds of Chinese businessmen go!

When I was there in 寒山寺, I saw a place called 楓橋夜泊處 which lets tourists go on/off the boat (yes, there's a river). And on the Bridge (楓橋), people tried to force me to buy 佛鐘 because the poem said 夜半鐘聲!

[Guest Barbara]

here's another one

崔涂

除夜有怀

迢递三巴路，

羁危万里身。

乱山残雪夜，

孤烛异乡人。

渐与骨肉远，

转于僮仆亲。

那堪正漂泊，

明日岁华新。

[skylee]

I do not remember why, but about a fortnight ago I was discussing with a friend about 文天祥's "正氣歌" and "過零丁洋" at Angkor Wat (of all places). I couldn't help but marvelled at the charms of these 1000-year old poems.

"過零丁洋"

辛苦遭逢起一經，

幹戈寥落四周星。

山河破碎風飄絮，

身世沉浮雨打萍。

惶恐灘頭說惶恐，

零丁洋裡嘆零丁。

人生自古誰無死，

留取丹心照汗青。

BTW, 零丁洋 is quite close to Hong Kong.

And the 靈石島 website is a wonderful collection of poems.

[Guest 了了了了]

蒹葭苍苍，白露为霜。所谓伊人，在水一方。 溯洄从之，道阻且长。 溯游从之，宛在水中央。

蒹葭凄凄，白露未晞。 所谓伊人，在水之湄。溯洄从之，道阻且跻。 溯游从之，宛在水中坻。

蒹葭采采，白露未已。所谓伊人，在水之涘。溯洄从之，道阻且右。 溯游从之，宛在水中沚。

From shijing

[markalexander100]

I've been looking at that Li Bai one. Is the 鴉 really 寒 ? Or am I being over-literal?

And what do you think the 為 in 為情 means?

[Quest]

寒鴉 and 難為情?

Winter Crows and ......... (What's 難為情 in English?)

[skylee]

難為情 usually means "embarrased". But in this context, I think it means 情何以堪 (which is even harder to translate) ... difficult to withstand/bear the torture of love/emotion???

BTW, the poem is a bit unique as it contains 3-worded, 5-worded and 7-worded phrases.