悯农憫農
chú锄hé禾rì日dāng当wǔ午，
hán汗dī滴hé禾xià下tǔ土。
shéi zhī谁知pán盘zhōng cān中餐，
lì粒lì粒jiē皆xīn kǔ辛苦。
Line by line
- 锄禾日当午，鋤禾日當午， Hoeing the grain under the noonday sun,
- 汗滴禾下土。 sweat drips onto the soil below.
- 谁知盘中餐，誰知盤中餐， Who knows that the food in the bowl —
- 粒粒皆辛苦。 every grain — is bought with toil?
The poet & the story
Li Shen (772–846) wrote a pair of “Pitying the Farmers” poems as a young man; this is the second and far more famous one. He later rose to be chancellor — and, ironically, gained a reputation for extravagant living that history loves to contrast with these lines.
Interpretation
A farmer hoes at noon, sweat dripping into the soil beneath the rice shoots. Who realizes that every single grain in the bowl is bought with this toil? The poem is China’s table grace: parents quote 粒粒皆辛苦 — “every grain is hard-won” — to children who leave rice in their bowls.