三级aa视频在线观看-三级国产-三级国产精品一区二区-三级国产三级在线-三级国产在线

Weight of early poetry felt through the ages

By Zhao Xu | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2025-06-09 07:32
Share
Share - WeChat
Two children play with a moon-shaped balloon printed with ancient poems in Huainan city, Anhui province, last September. [PHOTO BY CHEN BIN/FOR CHINA DAILY]

Bureaucrats in ancient China had to have knowledge of verse as reflection of their soul, Zhao Xu reports.

What did poetry mean to the ancient Chinese? Confucius (551-479 BC) offered an answer. "Poetry can inspire the mind, offer insight, foster social connection, and give voice to discontent," he declared in The Analects, a philosophical text composed of sayings and ideas attributed to Confucius and his disciples.

As ancient China's foremost moral guide, Confucius was referring to a specific collection of poems: the Shi Jing (literally Classics of Poetry, more commonly translated as the Book of Songs), the oldest surviving anthology of Chinese poetry, containing 305 works dating from the 11th to 6th centuries BC. Alongside The Analects (Lunyu in Chinese), the Book of Songs has long been regarded as a cornerstone of Confucian thought. For over two millennia, it was essential reading for aspiring bureaucrats, who were required to demonstrate their understanding of its verses in the rigorous civil service examinations.

"To select officials based on their knowledge of poetry — though it may seem slightly odd at first — rests on a deeper logic: that writing, and poetry in particular, is a reflection of the soul," says Zhang Yinan, a researcher from the National Library of China.

"A poet remains a poet even when not writing verse, for being a poet is an existential state of mind: One that fosters heightened sensitivity and the ability to see from a broader, more historical perspective. Those lacking such depth were deemed unfit to govern."

In other words, the act of writing poetry, as an often idiosyncratic if not entirely whimsical pursuit, was deeply entwined with politics in ancient China. That tradition was set by Shi Jing, says Tan Zuowen, who teaches ancient Chinese literature at Beijing's Capital Normal University.

1 2 3 Next   >>|

Related Stories

Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲色图50p | 免费中文字幕在线 | 欧美日韩免费播放一区二区 | 嘛豆传媒的短视频动漫 | 美美女高清毛片视频黄的一免费 | 日韩网站在线 | 国产极品白嫩超清在线观看 | 一区二区精品在线观看 | 毛片免费观看的视频在线 | 日韩欧美国产高清 | 国产高清免费在线观看 | 可以免费看的黄色网址 | 精品国产欧美一区二区五十路 | 大陆1区二区三区 | 国内在线精品 | 一级毛片日韩 | 欧美日韩中文字幕在线视频 | 亚洲人在线视频 | 99综合| 777福利| 免费黄色高清视频 | 亚洲欧美在线视频免费 | 亚洲欧美一区二区三区九九九 | 欧美日一区二区三区 | 风间由美中文字幕亚洲一区 | 日韩大片免费看 | 免费大学生国产在线观看p 免费大黄网站在线观看 | 99九九精品视频 | 在线看片 在线播放 | 欧美视频一区二区专区 | 免费看日韩欧美一级毛片 | 中文字幕 日韩有码 | 亚洲主播 | 亚洲精品国产拍拍拍拍拍 | 99国产精品| 自拍 第一页 | 善良的后裔完整视频在线观看 | 一级毛片黄 | a级毛片免费全部播放 | 特黄特色一级aa毛片免费观看 | 亚洲黄色高清视频 |