How to Read Chinese Poetry Workbook (How to Read Chinese Literature)

Personally, this book is just what I needed. No matter how much one admires Chinese verse in translation, gaining a close exposure to the original texts produces a different variety of meaningful and powerful experiences. I had been in touch with Zong-qi Cai while reading the book this workbook accompanies (note my January 18, 2010 review of it) and I encouraged something along these lines because of my frustration with wanting to gain a better appreciation of the poems themselves in the original. While I was grateful for that book, I'm dumbstruck by this one and expect it to be my bedside companion for years. These hundred Chinese gems are laid out so neatly - like an anatomy textbook, the clean layout enables a glimpse toward the possibility of much more profound explorations. No matter how much these poems have moved me, I still feel in orbit at too great a distance from them, but I can't imagine any better way to get closer to them than what this workbook accomplishes. I only wish this treatment had already been given to most of the great works of Chinese poetry, literature and philosophy.Those seeking an introduction to Chinese poetry and ready to embrace it in the original will be well served by starting with this workbook and then considering whether to invest in the greater breadth and depth of its parent "How To Read Chinese Poetry." In addition to what is in the workbook already, the authors have created a Facebook page and invite readers to suggest improvements. I can speak to their sincere willingness, having helped encourage this workbook into existence myself. Certainly the exercises could be improved by years of classroom use and feedback and I believe this book merits that degree of intensive academic use. Beginners can gain from it and even sophisticated Mandarin fans can enjoy the relaxed ease with which they can immerse themselves in the material. I like to think of each poem as a cultural ambassador; they speak of many lives lived so nobly across the expanse of the tapestry of Chinese history. I find my sense of these noble lives most bracing as I face my own life's challenges - and great writers offer a wondrous source of moral courage. Like millions of Chinese students, in China and around the world, I find I sometimes need all the help I can get in order to keep working hard on my progress with the language and its many texts. The poems in this workbook serve as both an incentive and an encouragement to persevere.

This book is an excellent reader's companion to Professor Zong-qi Cai's "How to Read Chinese Poetry." However, the name of the book is a bit misleading. When my teacher first recommended the book, I thought it was, as the name suggested, a "Workbook." And I thought to myself, "Oh no! homework!" But when I got the book and read it, it was pretty fun. It struck me more as a "reader's companion" rather than a "workbook" with all the supplementary readings, further explanations, and insightful analyses, which are perfectly complementary to the "How to Read Chinese Poetry" book. I would have been more happy and willing to get this reader's companion had I known better....

The textbook this workbook goes with is quite good so I had high expectations when I ordered it. Bummer. This book is not very good. It is also (in an incredably bad editorial decision) written in Simplfied Chinese characters when the textbook is in traditional characters. D'oh! Apart from the nice cover I can't think of anything good to say about it.

All those whose native language is not Chinese will have encountered some difficulties with Chinese classical poetry.This work book greatly simplified this odious task for students of Chinese poetry and this book is therefore, what I consideran absolute must have. Well done Amazon. Thanks a million.

Wonderful way of looking and reading and by way of internet, hearing Chinese Poetry. It goes with the Anthology which is another purchase but really great with this workbook, both Zong-qi Cal.

Very disappointed. The Chinese text is so small and faint it's almost unreadable on my Kindle. When I try to enlarge the font, only the English type gets bigger, and the Chinese is still barely readable.

This book, an offshoot of the excellent HOW TO READ CHINESE POETRY, offers texts, translations, analyses, etc. of 100 classic Chinese poems, over 50 of them not included in HTRCP. It's a superb resource, but gets 3 stars because, unlike HTRCP, the poems are given in simplified characters, an astonishing decision given the book's likely audience (presumably mainland Chinese readers are amply supplied with their own introductions to Classical poetry). The Preface admits that this is unfortunate, and notes that the traditional characters are supplied when a word is discussed in the commentary following each poem; but really it ought to have been the other way round: text in tradional characters, with the simplified ones in the commentary. So, a bad decision, but otherwise an excellent book.

The Chinese text is totally illegible in a Kindle. It does not use Chinese fonts for the characters, it uses pictures that come as blurred near-microscopic blotches on the Kindle page. Slightly more legible on the Kindle for PC app, but still not worth it.There are better options to learn Chinese poetry in free web pages.

If you're relatively new to learning Chinese poetry from the classic eras of the past and you do not read traditional characters then this is the book you need to appreciate the distinct qualities and pleaures of Chinese verse. The poems are printed in simplified characters with accompanying pinyin, vocab notes, a modern Chinese translation and comments to pick out the salient features of each poem. Furthermore, a series of exercises are provided to help the learner memorize the poems. MP3 files can also be obtained - for free - to accompany the poems, which are helpful in conveying the cadences of these beguiling ancient Chinese poems. The only fault I have with the book is that it lacks an index.

Great and very useful book to use along with the textbook. I would recommend it to all those who are interested in ancient Chinese poetry and have studied enough Classical and Modern Chinese to understand the subtleties.

J.Pimpaneau a écrit une très jolie introduction (Lettre à une jeune fille... - pas encore en format Kindle) qui présente une sélection de poèmes en les discutant et en offrant plusieurs traductions : le chinois classique ne se prête pas à une interprétation unique et canonique. Dans le recueil How to read Chinese poetry, en revanche, il n'y a qu'une traduction en regard, et ce sont les notes qui, je suppose, donnent les nuances possibles. Mais sous ce format Kindle actuel, c'est vraiment trop difficile de tenter de distinguer, à la loupe, les caractères du texte. Ces textes en chinois sont sur des paves très malaisés à agrandir avec le Kindle Touch ; de plus les titres et les exercices ne peuvent pas être agrandis et même en passant en lecture "paysage" cela reste très pénible voire illisible pour l'oeil.C'est vraiment dommage car la sélection semble très intéressante, j'aurai aimé essayer les exercices, et l'interactivité de la table ainsi que le pinyin sont tout à fait au point. Il y a aussi des commentaires qui semblent variés et passionnants, mais sont eux aussi difficilement lisibles avec le format.J'ai hésité, mais je préfère renoncer à cet achat en attendant que la qualité sur les caractères chinois soit résolue (c'est-à-dire qu'on ait la possibilité d'agrandir pour voir clairement les caractères).Le format papier est sans doute un investissement intéressant pour ceux qui veulent utiliser ce cours : les caractères y seront sans aucun doute plus lisibles et on doit donc pouvoir en tirer tout le parti qu'on souhaite pour apprendre des poèmes chinois dans le texte et à l'oral pour en apprécier le rythme et la mélodie; pas seulement en traduction.