Top 10 Most Influential Chinese Poems in

History by Peter Wang ·

China is a poem kingdom, many great poems have significant impacts on Chinese world,
and here listed are the 10 most influential poems. In addition to being written well, these
poems are also easy to understand and remember for common people.

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1. Thoughts in the Silent Night — Li Bai

Thoughts in the Silent Night is one of the most well-known Chinese poems written by
Li Bai. This short poem uses only a few words and is quite concise in wordage, but it
is endowed with the passion that stimulates the bottom of one’s heart and arouses an
intense feeling of nostalgia very naturally.

李白《静夜思》

床前明月光，
疑是地上霜。
举头望明月，
低头思故乡。

Thoughts in the Silent Night

By Li Bai
Translated by Yang Xianyi & Dai Naidie

Beside my bed a pool of light—

Is it hoarfrost on the ground?
I lift my eyes and see the moon,
I bend my head and think of home.

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2. A Poem By A Leaving Son— by Meng Jiao

孟郊《游子吟》
慈 母 手 中 线，
游 子 身 上 衣。
临 行 密 密 缝，
意 恐 迟 迟 归。
谁 言 寸 草 心，
报 得 三 春 晖。

A Traveller’s Song
By Meng Jiao
Translated by Liu Jianxun

The thread in the hands of a fond-hearted mother

Makes clothes for the body of her wayward boy;
Carefully she sews and thoroughly she mends,
Dreading the delays that will keep him late from home.
But how much love has the inch-long grass
For three spring months of the light of the sun?

A Traveller’s Song is one of the most famous classical Chinese poems. The poem was
written when 50-year-old poet Meng Jiao was appointed as a county official in Liyang,
Jiangsu Province. He then brought his mother to live in the county. This poem presents
people how mighty the love of a mother is and at the same time expresses his gratitude to
mother’s sincere love. This poem has been passed down from one generation to another
and almost every Chinese knows this poem. Especially the last two verses are now a
common metaphor of motherly love.

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3. Grasses — Bai Juyi

白居易

<赋得古原草送别》

离离原上草，
一岁一枯荣。
野火烧不尽，
春风吹又生。
远芳侵古道，
晴翠接荒城。
又送王孙去，
萋萋满别情。

Grasses
By Bai Juyi

Boundless grasses over the plain

Come and go with every season;
Wildfire never quite consumes them —
They are tall once more in the spring wind.
Sweet they press on the old high- road
And reach the crumbling city-gate….
O Prince of Friends, you are gone again….
I hear them sighing after you.

Bai Juyi is one of the most prolific and popular poet of all Chinese poets. Bai wrote this
famous poem in an examination at the age of 16. The first four sentences focus on the
beauty of resisting grass life; the last four sentences praises the sincere friendship. The
poet combined the occasion of departure with natural surroundings to create an extended
metaphor to describe profound friendship.

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4. Quatrain of Seven Steps — By Cao Zhi

曹植 《七步诗》

煮豆燃豆萁，
豆在釜中泣。
本是同根生，
相煎何太急？

Quatrain of Seven Steps

By Cao Zhi

People burn the beanstalk to boil beans,

The beans in the pot cry out.
We are born of the selfsame root,
Why should you torment me so much?

The poem was written during the Three Kingdom Period when Cao Pi (brother of Cao
Zhi), the Emperor of Wei, was in power. Cao Pi suspected that his brother Cao Zhi was
trying to usurp his throne. Consequently, Cao Zhi was summoned to the court and
ordered to compose a poem within seven strides so that Cao Pi was convinced of his
innocence. Cao Zhi made it, and Cao Pi became so flustered that he spared his brother.

This poem compares relation of beans and beanstalk to relationship of the two brothers,
and likens burning the beanstalk to boil beans to elder brother maiming younger brother,
reflecting the brutal struggle within the feudal ruling group and the poet’s difficult
situation and gloomy cynical feelings.

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5. On The Stork Tower —- By Wang Zhihuan

王之涣 《登鹳雀楼》

白日依山尽，
黄河入海流。
欲穷千里目，
更上一层楼。
On The Stork Tower
By Wang Zhihuan

The sun beyond the mountains glows;

The Yellow River seawards flows.
You can enjoy a grander sight，
By climbing to a greater height.

This poem was written by famous Tang Dynasty poet Wang Zhihuan. It describes what
the poet sees and feels about when he ascends the Stork Tower. In the first two lines, he
shifts his eyes from the sunset beyond the mountains to the Yellow River, which flows
out of sight eastwards towards the sea. Then he writes the famous line “You can enjoy a
grander sight, By climbing to a greater height.” which blends landscape, emotion and
philosophical thinking in the short verse.

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6. On The Mountain Holiday Thinking of My Brothers In Shandong — by Wang
Wei

王维的《九月九日忆山东兄弟》

独在异乡为异客，
每逢佳节倍思亲。
遥知兄弟登高处，
遍插茱萸少一人。

On The Mountain Holiday Thinking of

My Brothers In Shandong
By Wang Wei

All alone in a foreign land,

I am twice as homesick on this day
When brothers carry dogwood up the
mountain,
Each of them a branch-and my branch
missing.

This poem is one of the masterpieces of the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei. It describes
an intense feeling of homesickness of a distant wanderer. In the first two lines, the poet
shows how lonely he is in a foreign land, especially on festive occasions he thinks of his
family far away more than ever. Then he shifts his focus to his hometown, thinking that
when his brothers at home step to high places and collect the dogwood, they will miss
him too.

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7. Guan! Guan! Cry The Fish Hawks — from Shijing

《关雎》 Guan! Guan! Cry The Fish Hawks

Guan! Guan! Cry the fish hawks

关关雎鸠，在河之洲。 on sandbars in the river:
a mild-mannered good girl,
窈窕淑女，君子好逑。 fine match for the gentleman.

参差荇菜，左右流之。 A ragged fringe is the floating-heart,

left and right we trail it:
that mild-mannered good girl,
窈窕淑女，寤寐求之。 awake, asleep, I search for her.

求之不得，寤寐思服。 I search but cannot find her,

awake, asleep, thinking of her,
悠哉悠哉，辗转反侧。 endlessly, endlessly,
turning, tossing from side to side.
参差荇菜，左右采之。
A ragged fringe is the floating-heart,
left and right we pick it:
窈窕淑女，琴瑟友之。 the mild-mannered good girl,
harp and lute make friends with her.
参差荇菜，左右毛之。
A ragged fringe is the floating-heart,
left and right we sort it:
窈窕淑女，钟鼓乐之。
the mild-mannered good girl,
bell and drum delight her.

This poem is the first poem of ancient anthology Shijing, the earliest collection of
Chinese poems comprising 305 works of the Zhou Dynasty (1122-256 B.C.). It is a love
poem describing that a young noble falls in love with a good and fair maiden collecting
edible water plants, and hopes to marry her.

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8. A Quatrain in Summer — by Li Qingzha

李清照 《夏日绝句》

生当作人杰，
死亦为鬼雄。
至今思项羽，
不肯过江东。
A Quatrain in Summer
By Li Qingzhao

To be, one should be a rare fellow.

Not to be, one should be a ghost hero.
We have revered Xiangyu till today,
For he rejected alive as a loser way.

This poem was written by Li Qingzhao, a famous poetess who lived in the Southern Song
dynasty (1127- 1279). The poem proposes her own viewpoint clearly in the first two
lines: One as a human being should be an outstanding talent and make contributions to
the country; if one has to die, he should make sacrifices for his country, becoming a ghost
hero after death. The poetess felt very disappointed when the rulers of Southern Song just
fled as the country was invaded aliens, disregard for common people. The poetess also
used Xiangyu, a hero who refused to flee and committed suicide with dignity, to satirize
the rulers, and at the same time she hoped heroic figures could recover the country’s lost
territory.

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9. Farewell To Vice-Prefect Du Setting Out For His Official Post In Shu — by Wang
Bo

王勃《送杜少府之任蜀州》

城阙辅三秦，
风烟望五津。
与君离别意，
同是宦游人。
海内存知己，
天涯若比邻。
无为在岐路，
儿女共沾巾。

Farewell To Vice-Prefect Du Setting Out For

His Official Post In Shu
By Wang Bo

By this wall that surrounds the three Qin

districts,
Through a mist that makes five rivers one,
We bid each other a sad farewell,
We two officials going opposite ways….
And yet, while China holds our friendship,
And heaven remains our neighbourhood,
Why should you linger at the fork of the road,
Wiping your eyes like a heart-broken child?

This poem was written by Wang Bo in Chang’an City when his friend surnamed Du was
leaving to take office as a county official in Sichuan province, the poet saw him off in
Chang’an City and presented his friend this farewell poem. The poem describes their
profound friendship and also expresses his sincerity and encouragement to his friend.

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10. Toiling Farmers —by Li Shen

李绅 《悯农》

锄禾日当午，
汗滴禾下土。
谁知盘中餐，
粒粒皆辛苦。

Toiling Farmers
By Li Shen

Farmers weeding at noon,

Sweat down the field soon.
Who knows food on a tray
Thanks to their toiling day?

This poem was written by the Tang Dynasty poet Li Shen who is known for expressing
in-depth coverage of the rural life in his poems. The poem talks about farmers’ hard work
for every single grain. The first two lines describe farmers keep toiling away despite the
blazing heat at noon. The following two lines connect food in plate with farmers’ hard
work. If they don’t toil, then who knows what you would eat.

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唐·崔护《题都城南庄》

去年今日此门中，
人面桃花相映红。
人面不知何处去，
桃花依旧笑春风。

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