Music 323: Shirley Created Music 135 for Chinese Classical Poem :Xiao Chi-- A little Pond (By Yang Wanli) - Jan 20, 2012 / Sep 5, 2010 /Ju 23, 2006

Listen to Shirley Singing the Poem in English Sep 5, 2010
Listen to Shirley Singing the Poem in Chinese July 23, 2006

Listen to Shirley Explaining the Poem & Follow Me to Read It
Follow Shirley to Read the New Words & the Chinese Charaters

Read Shirley's Comments about This Poem Sep 5,2010

See Shirley Created Paintings & Calligraphy for the Poem Sep 5,2010


Hello, friends, have you been to China? China is a poetics country. In our daily life, we often use some lines to make our language is more implicative but easier to be understood.

For example, when we say something just appears a little part, the most part of it has been hidden or has not been showed, we often say: Xiao He Cai Lu Jianjian Jiao -- A small lotus leaf just appears a little pointed tip.

This line is from a Chinese classical poem Xiao Chi -- A little Pond by Song Dynasty((960 - 1279) poet Yang Wangli(1127 - 1206).

This is a very little poem that has written some very interesting small scene with just 4 lines in a beautiful summer day:

A silent mouth of the spring " cherishes"   the little streamlet and lets her flow into the pond quietly,
The shade of the trees is reflected in the water, why? because it " loves "   the soft view in the sunshine. A slim lotus leaf just appears a little tip, before it has opened her body, a dragonfly has stood on it.

No matter the mouth of the spring, the shade of the tree or the the dragonfly, they are alive and have lives and feelings as human being, every line in the poem, just likes a beautiful picture, so that when I read it, I had a very strong feeling that I should express the beautiful scene in my mind with some art form.

So, I translated it, created a piece of music for it and wrote a comment about it on July 23, 2006, and then I painted a painting for it first time on September 5, 2010.

This week, in my winter vacation in 2012, I wanted to review my jobs on it and to improve them. So, I did.

Professor Meng Weiye directed and corrected my music writing; Mrs. Xiaogang Z discussed about my translation with me and she corrected my grammar over the cell phone;Mr. Mike J and Mr. William G. checked my translation in English.

I really hope that our effort will be some help with you to learn Chinese culture and language.

Main Meaning of the Poem

A Little Pond

By Yang Wangli (Song Dynasty)

A silent mouth of the spring cherishes the little streamlet,
The shade of the tree is reflected in the water, it loves the view in the sunshine.
A slim lotus leaf just appears a little tip,   
Early a dragonfly has stood on it.

Chinese Characters & Pronunciations:

You can clink any Chinese Character to open the New Character Board and to see its Chinese pinyin, meaning, pronunciation and follow me to read it, also, you can hit the links over to enter the Painting Column,or you can directly enter the art notes on the painting that I created for this poem to see my painting and art notes for the poem

小池 - Xiǎo Chí

杨万里   ( 宋 ) - Yáng Wànlǐ ( Sòng )

泉眼无声惜细流 - Quányǎn wúshēng xī xìlíu,
树阴照水爱晴柔 - shùyīn zhàoshuǐ ài qíng róng。
小荷才露尖尖角 - Xiǎo hé cái lù jiānjiān jiǎo,
早有蜻蜓立上头 - zǎoyǒu qīngtíng lì shàngtóu。

If you have any questions, comments and suggestions, please write to shirley@ebridge.cn or shirleyz004@yahoo.com. You are welcome to publish your opinions in Message Board as well.

Shirley Zhang
Shirley Wrote, Painted, Translated, Sang & Recorded the Content over Jan 20, 2012/ Sep 5, 2010/ July 23, 2006