A Chinese Poem

One of my more outgoing sophomore students has been trying to challenge me in my Chinese study. This week she gave me a short Chinese poem to memorize. Here it is . . . with my rough English translation.

锄禾 Chú Hé

锄禾日当午 Chú hé rì dāng wǔ

汗滴和下土 Hàn dī hé xià tǔ

谁知盘中餐 Shúi zhī pán zhōng cān

粒粒皆辛苦 Lì lì jiē xīn kǔ

Hoeing the Fields

Hoeing the fields under the afternoon sun,

Drops of sweat fall gently to the ground.

We all know where our meals come from,

Every grain of rice is the result of much toiling.

My student said that all Chinese students have to memorize this poem and others like it when they're in primary school. She says that it's the sort of thing parents like to use to remind their child to not waste food and to appreciate and be thankful for what they're given. I really am going to memorize this. I figure it will be a fun conversation starter at Chinese meals.

When I first read this poem to Katie, I asked her to translate it just based on what she thought she heard. Some of these words are not words we know or say often but the words sound like other words that we do know. Katie's translation was much more entertaining . . . something to the effect of the sun coming up, a rabbit by the river was killed (the words xià tǔ really could sound like "kill a rabbit"), and a beautiful girl worked hard to eat it for lunch, which is probably exactly what I would have thought I heard if my student hadn't helped me translate it. Oh Chinese and its tones!!