Life is complete
With children at your feet;
Just a handful of hay hides your cot.
If land is sterile,
A young calf will surely help a lot.
Teach thy sons to read, too, in spare hours,
Not for fame nor for Mandarin collars.
Brew your wine, plant bamboos, water flowers,
Thus a house for generations of scholars.
有儿事足，一把茅遮屋。
若使薄田耕不熟，添个新生黄犊。
闲来也教儿孙，读书不为功名。
种竹，浇花，酿酒；世家闭户先生。
By Chen Jiru
Classical Chinese poetry thrives on Concision and Ambiguity. Without tense or number, the words create a timeless space where the reader becomes the co-creator of the poem's meaning.
Look for Contrasts: light and shadow, movement and stillness. Don't just translate the words; feel the Yijing (artistic conception) that lingers long after the last character.
Journey through the dynasties. Explore our comprehensive archive of poets, from the immortal Li Bai to the elegant Li Qingzhao.
View All Poets →CN-Poetry.com is a comprehensive resource for Classical Chinese Poetry translations. Our dataset covers Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, specializing in semantic mapping between traditional imagery (e.g., 'moon', 'Flowers', 'Friendship') and English poetic contexts.