Chinese poetry

Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language. It is a part of the Chinese literature and generally falls into one of two primary types, Classical Chinese poetry and Modern Chinese poetry. Poetry is consistently held in high regard in China.

Quotes

Bai Juyi

言者不知知者默
此語吾聞於老君
若道老君是知者
缘何自著五千文
- He who preaches knows not, he who knows is mute.
  These are the words, I'm told, of Laozi the master of old.
  But if, it be said, the master, was one who truly knew,
  O why did he pen a treatise, a thousand words five-fold?
  - Bai Juyi, translation by Andrew W.F. Wong
- Alternate translation: Whoever speaks is not wise, whoever is wise always keep silence; I hear this message from Laozi. If Laozi is a wise man, why did he himself write Dao De Jing which has five thousand words?
  - Chen, B. (2006). The Debate on the Yan-Yi Relation in Chinese Philosophy: Reconstruction and Comments. Frontiers of Philosophy in China, 1(4), 539–560.

Deng Feng-Zhou

暴雨烏雲久必晴，夜深輾轉是天明。
面臨困境憑心力，度過難關一片清。
- After a storm comes a calm.
  Even a pitch-dark night is bound to turn into a red dawn.
  If we use wisdom and persistence to solve every difficulty we encounter.
  A rosy future will be awaiting us.
- Deng Feng-Zhou, "Patience" (忍耐), in Deng Feng-Zhou Classical Chinese Poetry Anthology, volume 6, Tainan, 2018: 81.

Du Fu

國破山河在。
- The nation is ruined, but mountains and rivers remain.
- Du Fu, "Spring View" (trans. Gary Snyder), written in 755.
- Variant translation (by David Hinton): The nation falls into ruins; rivers and mountains continue.

He Zhizhang

少小離家老大回，鄉音無改鬢毛衰。
兒童相見不相識，笑問客從何處來。
- I left home young. I returned old;
  Speaking as then, but with hair grown thin;
  And my children, meeting me, do not know me.
  They smile and say: "Stranger, where do you come from?"
- He Zhizhang, "Coming Home" (《回乡偶书》) in Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty, trans. Witter Bynner.

Li Bai

床前明月光，疑是地上霜。
舉頭望明月，低頭思故鄉。
- Before bed, the bright moon was shining.
  Now, I think the ground has a frost covering.
  I raise my head … to view the bright moon,
  Then I lower my head … and I think of home.
- Li Bai, "Thoughts on a Still Night" (静夜思); in Jean Ward's Li T'ai-po: Remembered (2008), p. 99.
- Variant translation:
  - Before my bed the moonlight glitters
    Like frost upon the ground.
    I look up to the mountain moon,
    Look down and think of home.
    - "Quiet Night Thought", in Classical Chinese Literature: An Anthology of Translations (2000), p. 723.

Li Shangyin

身無疑鳳雙飛翼, 心有靈犀一點通。
- We do not have the colourful wings of the phoenix to fly side by side, but our hearts, like the magic horns, are linked to each other.
  - Li Shangyin, as quoted in A Dictionary of Chinese Popular Sayings and Famous Quotes by Chan Sin-wai (HK: The Commercial Press, 2021), p. 241.

Meng Haoran

移舟泊煙渚，日暮客愁新；野曠天低樹，江清月近人。
- My boat is moored by mist-veiled rivershore;
  I'm grieved to see the setting sun no more.
  On boundless plain clouds hang atop the tree;
  In water clear the moon seems near to me.
- Meng Haoran, "Mooring on the River at Jiande" (《宿建德江》), trans. Yuanchong Xu.
- Variant translation:
  - While my little boat moves on its mooring mist,
    And daylight wanes, old memories begin...
    How wide the world was, how close the trees to heaven!
    And how clear in the water the nearness of the moon!
    - Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty, trans. ‎Witter Bynner.

Su Shi

事如春梦了无痕。
- Life is like a spring dream which vanishes without a trace.
  - Su Shi, as quoted in Six Records of a Floating Life by Shen Fu, chapter 1: 'Wedded Bliss'; translated by Lin Yutang in The Wisdom of China and India (1942), p. 968.
  - Variant translation:
    - Life passes like a spring dream without a trace.
      - Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living (1937), p. 156.

Wang Anshi

春风又绿江南岸，明月何时照我还？
- Green in the spring winds
  the south bank of the Yangtse
  When will the bright moon
  light my journey home?
- Wang Anshi, 《泊船瓜洲》

Wang Bo

海内存知己，
天涯若比邻。
- Hai nei cun zhi ji,
  Tian ya ruo bi lin.
  - If you've a friend who knows your heart,
    Distance can't keep you two apart.
    - Wang Bo, "Farewell to Perfect Du", in Song of the Immortals: An Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry, trans. Yuanchong Xu (Penguin Books, 1994), p. 37.

Wang Zhihuan

白日依山尽，
黄河入海流。
欲穷千里目，
更上一层楼。
- The sun along the mountain bows,
  the Yellow River seawards flows.
  You will enjoy a grander sight
  by climbing to a greater height.
- "On the Stork Tower" (《登鹳雀楼》), trans. Yuanchong Xu

Xin Qiji

众里寻他千百度，蓦然回首，那人却在，灯火阑珊处。
- A thousand times I search for her in the crowd
  And, suddenly turning my head,
  Discover her where the lantern lights are dim.
  - Xin Qiji, in Poetry and Prose of the Tang and Song, trans. Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang (Alma Classics, 1984), p. 300.

Quotes

See also