Classical poems 古诗 古詩
Tang and Song classics every learner meets sooner or later — short, vivid and public domain. Open a poem for pinyin, zhuyin, both scripts, the story behind it and a printable study sheet.
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静夜思 靜夜思
The most famous poem in Chinese — moonlight, homesickness, four simple lines every child knows.
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春晓 春曉
Waking on a spring morning to birdsong — and wondering how many blossoms the night storm took.
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登鹳雀楼 登鸛雀樓
Climb one more floor to see a thousand miles — the classic image for always striving higher.
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悯农 憫農
Every grain on your plate is a farmer’s sweat — recited before meals across generations.
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咏鹅 詠鵝
Written by a seven-year-old: a goose curving its neck to sing at the sky — a first poem for many learners.
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相思
Red beans as tokens of longing — the reason 红豆 still means “missing someone” today.
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江雪
A lone fisherman in a snowed-silent world — twenty characters of perfect stillness.
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清明
Drizzle on Tomb-Sweeping Day and a boy pointing to a tavern in the apricot blossoms.
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望庐山瀑布 望廬山瀑布
A waterfall like the Milky Way falling from heaven — Li Bai at his most extravagant.
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枫桥夜泊 楓橋夜泊
Moonset, crows, and a midnight temple bell reaching a traveller’s boat — pure Tang atmosphere.
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回乡偶书 回鄉偶書
Coming home after a lifetime away — the village children ask the old man where he’s from.
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九月九日忆山东兄弟 九月九日憶山東兄弟
Alone on the Double Ninth festival — the line every homesick Chinese person quotes at festivals.
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黄鹤楼送孟浩然之广陵 黃鶴樓送孟浩然之廣陵
Li Bai watches his friend’s sail vanish down the Yangtze — the most beautiful goodbye in Chinese.
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早发白帝城 早發白帝城
A thousand miles in a day — Li Bai’s joyride down the Yangtze after a pardon saved his life.
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绝句 絕句
Two orioles, a line of egrets, ancient snow and waiting ships — a window framed into a poem.
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游子吟 遊子吟
A mother sewing her son’s coat before he leaves — China’s best-loved poem about parental love.
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山行
Stopping the carriage for maple leaves redder than spring flowers — autumn’s favourite poem.
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题西林壁 題西林壁
“You can’t see the mountain because you’re standing on it” — Song-dynasty philosophy in four lines.
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小池
A dragonfly lands on a lotus bud barely out of the water — the gentlest poem about beginnings.
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晓出净慈寺送林子方 曉出淨慈寺送林子方
West Lake in June: lotus leaves to the horizon, flowers a different red under the sun.
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元日
Firecrackers, spring wine and new door charms — the Chinese New Year poem.
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梅花
Plum blossoms in the snow, known by their hidden fragrance — the emblem of quiet integrity.
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鹿柴
An empty mountain, a voice without a speaker, sunlight on moss — Wang Wei’s quiet Zen masterpiece.
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竹里馆 竹里館
Alone in a bamboo grove with a zither and the moon — solitude as company, not loneliness.
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寻隐者不遇 尋隱者不遇
Looking for a hermit and finding only his pupil — a whole search told as one small conversation.
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鸟鸣涧 鳥鳴澗
Spring stillness so complete that a rising moon can startle the birds — Wang Wei at his most silent.
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凉州词 涼州詞
A lone fort below the Yellow River’s clouds, a flute, and the spring wind that never crosses the pass.
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出塞
The same moon over the same pass for a thousand years — a frontier elegy longing for one great general.
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望天门山 望天門山
The river splits the mountains apart and a single sail rides out of the sun — Li Bai on the Yangtze.
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江南春
Orioles, wine-flags and four hundred temples fading into the rain — springtime south of the river.