The poem
Pity the Farmers (悯农, Mǐn Nóng) by Li Shen (李绅).
锄禾日当午chú hé rì dāng wǔHoeing the crops under the midday sun,
汗滴禾下土hàn dī hé xià tǔSweat drips onto the soil below.
谁知盘中餐shuí zhī pán zhōng cānWho knows that the food on our plate,
粒粒皆辛苦lì lì jiē xīn kǔEvery single grain, comes from hard work?
What it means
A poem about where rice comes from. Chinese parents quote the last line at the dinner table when a child leaves food in the bowl, so it is a good one to learn together at mealtimes.
Characters to know
- 日 rì: sun
- 土 tǔ: soil
- 中 zhōng: middle
- 苦 kǔ: bitter, hard
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
- 江雪 River Snow
- 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
More worksheets
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