The poem
A Painting (画, Huà) by Wang Wei (王维).
远看山有色yuǎn kàn shān yǒu sèFrom far away, the mountain has colour,
近听水无声jìn tīng shuǐ wú shēngUp close, the water makes no sound.
春去花还在chūn qù huā hái zàiSpring is gone but the flowers are still here,
人来鸟不惊rén lái niǎo bù jīngPeople come near and the birds are not scared.
What it means
This one is a riddle. A waterfall that makes no sound, flowers that never fade, birds that never fly away: the answer is the title, a painting. It is also a neat lesson in opposites: far and near, come and go. It is usually credited to Wang Wei, though nobody is quite sure who wrote it.
Characters to know
- 远 yuǎn: far
- 近 jìn: near
- 来 lái: come
- 去 qù: go
How to practise it
Read the poem aloud together first, then write one line a day using the line buttons above the worksheet. By the end of the week your child can write the whole poem and knows what each line means. When it feels easy, set tracing to 0 and write it from memory.
More poems to print
- 静夜思 Quiet Night Thoughts
- 春晓 Spring Dawn
- 咏鹅 Ode to the Goose
- 登鹳雀楼 On the Stork Tower
- 悯农 Pity the Farmers
- 江雪 River Snow
- 咏柳 Ode to the Willow
- 草 Grass
- 鹿柴 Deer Park
- 寻隐者不遇 Looking for the Hermit
- 相思 Thinking of You
- 游子吟 Song of the Traveller
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