The poem
River Snow (江雪, Jiāng Xuě) by Liu Zongyuan (柳宗元).
千山鸟飞绝qiān shān niǎo fēi juéOver a thousand mountains, no birds fly,
万径人踪灭wàn jìng rén zōng mièOn ten thousand paths, no footprints.
孤舟蓑笠翁gū zhōu suō lì wēngIn a lonely boat, an old man in a straw cape and hat
独钓寒江雪dú diào hán jiāng xuěFishes alone in the snow on the cold river.
What it means
A white, silent winter scene with one tiny figure in the middle. Liu Zongyuan wrote it while sent away from the capital, and the lonely fisherman is often read as the poet himself.
Characters to know
- 千 qiān: thousand
- 万 wàn: ten thousand
- 江 jiāng: river
- 雪 xuě: snow
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.
Watch the story
We explain this poem in simple English, line by line, on our YouTube channel Little Moon Chinese Poems.
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
- 咏柳 Ode to the Willow
- 画 A Painting
- 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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