Chinese poet Li Bai (701-762)

I attend a weekly Chinese class every Saturday sponsored by “Cherry Tree Learning“.    Last week the teacher taught us a couple of jokes, but also introduced us to Chinese poetry.   She claimed that everyone in China knows the poem she taught us.

I tested it out on my wife and she instantly started quoting it after I said two words.    An ABC friend at church told me this the only Chinese poem she knows. Two out of 1.4 billion isn’t much of a sample size, so I’ll have to keep asking around!  But I have no reason to doubt my teacher.  I look forward to asking more people about this poem. At any rate, the poem is by a Tang Dynasty poet named Li Bai （李白）.

Here it is:

《静夜思》Jìngè Sī  “Quiet Night”

［唐］李白 [Tang Dynasty]  Lǐ Bái        Li Bai

床前明月光 Chuáng qián míng yuèguāng  (Moonlight in front of the bed.)

疑是地上霜 Yí shì dìshàng shuāng (Looks like frost on the ground.)

举头望明月  Jǔ tóu wàng míngyuè (Raising my head I look at the bright moon.)

低头思故乡 Dītóu sī gùxiāng (Lowering my head, I think of my home town.)