Mastering Chinese Poetry Ep. 1: Classic poem on working harder for a better life 《登鸛雀樓》

Each culture is embedded with words, customs, literature, music, or other patterns of expression to reflect its history. This is true with Chinese culture as well. With a history of more than 5,000 years, Chinese poetry has provided a format and a forum for both public and private expressions of deep emotion. In this episode, we are going to look at one of the most classical Chinese poems in the history of Chinese literature, On the Stoke Tower. It's a Tang Dynasty poem written by Poet Wang Zhihuan in a regulated verse style, a popular type of poetry during the Tang Dynasty, where every line has the same number of characters, namely five. First, let's read the poem. 灯灌阙楼,王之幻,白日依山尽,黄河入海流,欲穷千里目,更上一层楼。 At the beginning, the poet describes a beautiful view. 白日依山尽,黄河入海流。 The sun along the mountain bows, the yellow river seawass flows. These ten characters describe a beautiful panoramic scene as the poet climbs the Stoke Tower, located in Yongji City, north China's Shanxi Province. The sun is about to set behind the mountain and the yellow river rushes into the ocean. 黄河, the yellow river, one of the major rivers in China, was named after its color. The astonishing and vast view has given the poet an idea. 欲穷千里目,更上一层楼。 You will enjoy a grander sight if you climb to a greater height. After seeing the great view of the mountain and the river, the poet desires to see as far as he can. The last two lines indicate that the poet wishes to climb higher in the Stoke Tower so as to see more and achieve more. The Stoke Tower, which served as a military lookout post, has stock nesting on the tower. Chinese people love this message so much and often use this message to encourage young people to work harder to have a better life, or to describe relationships in which cooperation among nations is vivid and broad, like the panoramic scene in the first line, while enhancing mutual development with a far-sighted view. Let's read the poem one more time. 白日依山尽,黄河入海流。 欲穷千里目,更上一层楼。 I hope you enjoyed this classical Chinese poem. What other poems would you like to know? Leave your comments on our social media platforms, and see you next time. Bye!