China the Beautiful

[liusp]

Chinese poems are a great part of Chinese literature and heritage of the long history. Chinese children start to recite some of the best everlasting poems when they are in cradle or when they learn to speak. If you know two or three well-known poems, or you can use them easily in your formal speeches, you will make your remarks very impressive and surprise all the audience. Let’s start from some simple ones.

Today, we’ll come to learn a poem which is taken from my son’s Grade-One Chinese textbook. It’s the first poem in the Chinese textbook for the primary school, called 《一去二三里》(yí qù èr sān lǐ), which descripes a living suburban landscape, once (1) going for a walk about 2 to 3miles, the poet saw 4 to 5 misty villages, 6 to 7 temples, and 8, 9 to 10 branches of flowers.

It is simple, because the poem used the ten numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10) smartly in a humour way. It is not only a good poem, but also a children folk song to practise speaking numbers. Before we come to the poem, please follow me to read the 10 numbers in pinyin for Chinese:

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1 一 yí 2 二 èr 3 三 sān 4 四 sì 5 五 wǔ

6 六 liù 7 七 qī 8 八 bā 9 九 jiǔ 10十 shí

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Here is the Chinese lyrics with pinyin and English translation:



一去二三里 A leisure Walk

邵雍 (北宋) by Shao Yong (Song)

yí qù èr sān lǐ

一 去 二 三 里，

yān cūn sì wǔ jiā

烟 村 四 五 家。

tínɡ tái liù qī zuò

亭 台 六 七 座，

bā jiǔ shí zhī huā

八 九 十 枝 花。

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【English Translation】

Once a time, we walk leisurely for two or three miles

On the way, we see four or five villages

Six or seven temples and

Eight , nine or ten branches of flowers

【Notes】

烟村yān cūn ：炊烟袅袅的小山村 rural villages surrounded by the cooking smokes up in the air

【Chinese Explanation】

一走就是两三里路，看见沿途炊烟袅袅，住着几户人家。仿佛让人看到山里数座亭台耸立，路边的野花昂首怒放。

【Description】

这是一首古代童谣，它向我们呈现了一幅郊外的美景：在不远的地方，有一个小山村，炊烟袅袅，住着几户人家。山里几座亭台错落有致地排列着，树上、路边盛开着各种美丽的花。这首童谣巧妙地把一至十的数字镶嵌其中，让学生学习表示数字的汉字。

From:http://blog.chinesehour.com/

[Aolung]

一去二三里
邵雍 (北宋)

一 去 二 三 里，
烟 村 四 五 家。
亭 台 六 七 座，
八 九 十 枝 花。

Thanks a lot for contributing. This is a very nice piece of poetry
in a nut shell demonstrating the very essence of this ancient and
venerable Chinese art, i.e. evoking entire pictures in front of one's eyes,
of hazy landscapes etc. - only by the use of simple and common everyday
words. At the same time following complicated and strict poetic rules,
thus leading to perfect inner and outer beauty of shape and sound.

Aolung
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de/