Chinese Classical Poem--0016: Yi Wang Er San Li --Little Poem By An Anonymous Person

LISTEN TO THE TEXTLISTEN TO SHIRLEY SANGE THE POEM

Hi, friends, today, I would like to introduce a very interesting Chinese classical poem by an anonymous person. It is made by four sentences and ten numbers from one to ten. :-) But it has "painted" a very beautiful landscape with numbers and very easy to read. So, it has been chose as a kindergarten poem. Many Chinese children can recite it as soon as they can speak. :-)

I do enjoy its alive and funny style. So, I created a piece of little music with a fast and a happy tone to match it. Also I painted a picture with my imagination below and hope you enjoy them. :-)   


MAIN MEANING OF THE PEOM:

To give a look,
it's two or three mile's landscape,
a village with four or five households with smoke from kitchen chimneys over there.
There are six or seven pavilions in the mountains,
eight, nine or ten flowers are blooming by the road. :-)

CHINESE PRONUNCIATIONLISTEN TO SHIRLEY SANGE THE POEM:

一望二三里-- Yi1 wang4 er4 san1 li3，
烟村四五家-- yan1 cun1 si4 wu3 jia1。
亭台六七座--ting2 tai2 liu4 qi1 zuo4，
八九十枝花-- ba1 jiu3 shi2 zhi1 hua1。


NEW WORDS:

一望: yi1 wang4 -- give a look
一:yi1 -- a, one
望:wang4 -- see, look
二:er4 -- two
三: san1 -- three
里:li3 -- a Chinese unit of length, 1 li = 500meters.
烟:yan1 -- smoke from kitchen chimneys
村:cun1 -- village
四:si4 -- four
五:wu3 -- five
(人)家:（ren2）jia1 -- household
亭台: ting2 tai2 -- pavilion
六:liu4 -- six
七:qi1 -- seven
座: zuo4 -- a Chinese unit of amount
八:ba1 -- eight
九:jiu3 -- nine
十:shi2 -- ten
枝:zhi1 -- a Chinese unit of amount
花: hua1 -- flower, flowers


CHINESE CHARACTERS>LISTEN TO SHIRLEY SANGE THE POEM:

一望二三里，
烟村四五家。
亭台六七座，
八九十枝花。

When I am reading this poem, the feeling is that I am painting a picture following the directions of the poet. First of all, paint the background with two or three miles far away as a distant view, maybe with mountains and sky. Then, it is the middle view, on the left, to paint a village with four or five houses and some smoke; on the right and behind of the village, there are some pavilions on the mountains. Finally, paint some flowers by the road and near my feet... :-)

Oh, now, is there a picture in your mind? Do you like the picture via imagination? I hope you do and feel easy to remember these numbers and Chinese words.

That is all for this poem. If you have any questions, comments and suggestions, please write to shirley@ebridge.cn, you are welcomed. :-)

--Shirley
Written, Edited and Recorded on Fri, Nov 4, 2005