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Chinese Tang Poem: On the Stork Tower


We will appreciate a Mandarin-Chinese Tang poem written by 王之涣( wáng,zhī huàn ): 登鹳雀楼( dēng guàn què lóu ).

This poem is one of my favorite ones for two reasons. 1, This poem describes a beautiful scene with a broad view; 2, This poem conveys a powerful message.

If you learn Mandarin-Chinese, you have to know this poem. In my opinion, it is one of the best poems in the history of Chinese literature.

Now let’s take a look at the poem.

At the beginning, the poet described a beautiful view.

 bái rì yī shān jìn
白日依山尽
the sun is about to set behind the mountain

huáng hé rù hǎi liú
黄河入海流
the yellow river is flowing to the ocean

When you read these ten words, in your mind, you might seem see a beautiful panoramic scene as the poet saw: a white sun was about to set behind the mountain, a yellow river was rushing into the blue ocean.

The poet must enjoy such beautiful view, then he got an idea.

yù qióng qiān lǐ mù
欲穷千里目
If you want to see the further scenery

gèng shàng yì céng lóu
更上一层楼
then you had better go up a higher level

Now read this poem with me.

Chinese people love this message so much and we often use this message to encourage young people to work harder to have a better life.

Especially, when it is graduation time, almost every one will write this message on the graduation notebook to encourage his classmate as well as encourage himself.

By the way, this poem is also one of favorite choices by Chinese calligraphers because of the beauty and moral.

Now you learned this poem, you can use this message too to keep yourself or your friend motivated.

By the way, I just found an interesting article to share with you in case you are interested: 5 Ancient Chinese Idioms with Modern Cachet.

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