80 Ancient Poems

Author: Herge Li Zishan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-04-01
Features: For the first time since the founding of the country, the "Full-time Primary School Chinese Language Teaching Syllabus for Nine-Year Compulsory Education" (Trial Revised Edition) recommended reciting ancient Chinese poems and songs. Why was this done? Let's start with a real story: A graduate student was going to Canada and asked his professor which books he should bring. The professor's answer was at least two: "An English-Chinese Dictionary" and "Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty." Because no matter where you go, as long as you have a few Tang poems in your repertoire, you are a "authentic" Chinese person. Calling ancient Chinese poems and songs the "passport" of the Chinese people is, of course, just a metaphor, but it is true that ancient Chinese poems and songs are the crystallization of outstanding Chinese culture and the accumulation of the great national spirit. The renowned writer Jin Yong once said well: "Foreigners often ask what 'Chinese characteristics' are. I think we can take Chinese ancient poetry and songs and recite any one of them to illustrate the point." So, it's not surprising that the "New Curriculum Standards" place such importance on having children recite ancient Chinese poetry and songs!
We considered that the 80 recommended ancient Chinese poems and songs are scattered throughout China's historical collections of poetry and songs, making it difficult to find and collect them, which would bring inconvenience to teachers, students, and parents. Therefore, we compiled this small book. For each poem, we have written brief "annotations" and "in-depth interpretations." However, since scholars from different dynasties have varying interpretations of these poems, it is inevitable that there will be differences in understanding. In such a case, we can only adopt the more common views, though they may not be definitive. Still, we hope they are reasonable and well-founded.
Fortunately, when primary school students study ancient Chinese poems, the emphasis is on recitation rather than delving into precise meanings, so the "in-depth interpretations" are only intended to help with understanding. Additionally, to appropriately broaden primary school students' reading scope of ancient Chinese poetry and songs, we have selected 160 more poems that are similar in genre, theme, author, or era. We hope you will enjoy them as well.
Although this is just a small book, we sincerely hope it can become a helpful tool for Chinese language teachers when teaching ancient Chinese poetry, a good friend for primary school students learning ancient Chinese poetry, and a valuable resource for parents who are interested in family education.