Thousand Poems (New Edition) Traditional Primary Education Series

Author: Yu Yueheng, Editor-in-Chief, Chen Puqing, Annotation and Translation
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Here is an introduction to A Thousand Poems. In the 45th year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1706), Cao Xueqin's grandfather, Cao Yin, published The Twelve Works of Linting, which included A Thousand Poems Selected and Classified by Later Village Master. The book consists of 22 volumes, divided into 14 categories, and is attributed to "Later Village Master" (i.e., Liu Kezhuang of the Southern Song Dynasty, 1187-1269), styled Qianfu, who called himself Later Village Resident. However, some argue that the collection was not compiled by Liu Kezhuang but rather by publishers who borrowed his fame to gain favor. Later, two other versions of A Thousand Poems appeared, titled The Expanded and Revised Seven-Character A Thousand Poems, selected by Xie Fangde and annotated by Wang Xiang, and The Newly Engraved Five-Character A Thousand Poems, selected and annotated by Wang Xiang. Both were used as teaching materials for children. Later, bookshops combined the five-character and seven-character poems into one volume, which came to be known as A Thousand Poems, the edition we are publishing now. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, A Thousand Poems has been widely popular across China, with lines like "Clouds are light, wind is gentle near noon" spreading widely among the people, thanks to its role as a teaching text for children, reaching a vast readership. It indeed has the convenience of being suitable for beginners. From the selected poems, the book contains 224 works, many of which are famous poems by renowned poets from the Tang and Song dynasties, long cherished and widely recited. With this collection in hand, children can begin to appreciate the richness and diversity of classical Chinese poetry and develop an interest in it; for poetry enthusiasts, it offers a delightful taste of endless charm. Imagine a Complete Collection of Tang Poems, which records over 48,900 poems, or a Collection of Poetry from Four Dynasties, with only the Song Dynasty portion comprising 78 volumes, and yet it mixes both the refined and the mediocre. It would be impossible for ordinary readers to read through it all. Having this carefully curated and appropriately selected edition has naturally made it highly popular.
In terms of authors, the book features 124 poets, from emperors and generals to monks, shepherds, and unknowns, regardless of their fame or social status, as long as their works met the criteria. This differs greatly from Wang Shizhen's Selected Ancient Poems and Yao Nai's Collected Modern Poems, which primarily focused on the fame of the authors, excluding works by talented poets without recognition. The poems in A Thousand Poems are still widely recited in folk language and on theater stages. The book contains many famous poems and lines that are similar to folk songs yet carry profound meanings and endless poetic charm. Some imperial poems are included, which is understandable given the era. Even in the Tang Dynasty, which used poetry for imperial examinations, and the Ming and Qing dynasties, which relied on the eight-legged essay, poetry was still part of the curriculum. The content of these poems may have been dry and rigid, but the rules of poetry were strictly enforced. Since scholars had to pass imperial exams, such poems were naturally included in teaching materials. Some modern editions have completely removed poems like Imperial Examination in Shangyuan, but we have retained all of them, leaving none out. There are also poems that reflect the impermanence of life and express pessimistic or melancholic emotions, such as Zhao Ding's Cold Food Observance, Huang Tingjian's Tomb-Sweeping Day, and Gao Zhu's Tomb-Sweeping Day Drinking, which some modern editions have also removed. We have not followed suit. Zhao Ding's poem "The Han and Tang tombs lack offerings of wheat, but mountain streams and wild paths are dotted with pear blossoms" reflects the author's disdain for fame and wealth after being dismissed from office, mirroring the realities of feudal society. Even Tomb-Sweeping Day Drinking, though some lines express a view of life, also satirizes the superficiality of tomb-sweeping rituals. Lines like "As the sun sets, foxes sleep on graves" have been used in reverse to portray the decline of certain political powers—does that not resonate perfectly?
In summary, A Thousand Poems is a widely influential teaching text for children and a classical poetry anthology that has withstood the test of time. While the era of reciting "Three Hundred, Three Thousand, and Three Thousand" is gone, many of the poems selected in A Thousand Poems still appear in the textbooks of primary, secondary, and even university levels today. This fact proves that truly culturally valuable books possess a strong vitality.