China
is a country rich in poetry. The poetic tradition developed
from Shijing, "The Book of Songs" and Chuci,
"Elegies of Chu", and got its peak during the
Tang Dynasty, an empire of civilization and prosperity.
Poets left imperial palaces and noble's manors, and threw
themselves into a big world. They traveled to famous mountains
and rivers, and to the frontier's deserts and wastelands
where they sang to their hearts' content.
Tang Dynasty poets had sang for three centuries in
different tones. They included many prominent poets
living in the Tang period, such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai
Juyi and Li Shangyin.
"Poems of the Tang Dynasty" edited in the
Qing Dynasty has collected more than 48,900 poems that
were written by over 2,200 poets. But it didn't cover
all the poems of the Tang Dynasty.
During the Tang Dynasty poems were recited when lovers
walked under the moonlight. Poems were also recited
when soldiers fought on the battlefield. People recited
them in the open air or at temple fairs.
Tang Dynasty poets wrote poems to win their fame and
also to mould their temperament. They poured out deep
feelings for their friends and criticised injustice
in the world through poems.
In the Tang Dynasty scholars must be poets. The nobility
and common people were their readers. Poets recited
poems, songstresses sang poems and other ranks of people,
including old women and children, could also read some
Tang poems. The atmosphere had affected those foreigners
who visited the country at that time. As a result, Tang
poetry was introduced to some adjacent countries. Sentimental
people were overwhelmed with admiration for it.
Tang
poetry serves as a most brilliant page in the history
of ancient Chinese literature. It's a miracle in the
history of culture of mankind. The Tang Dynasty was
a powerful empire with a vast territory. It inherited
Chinese civilization that went back to ancient times,
blended with the cream of other ethnic peoples and adopted
the benefits of other nations in the world.
Tang poetry wasn't the only spiritual wealth created
by the Tang Dynasty people. Philosophy and religion,
building and sculpture, calligraphy and painting, and
music and dance all gained their peaks in development.
Tang poetry was a symbol of these creations and a spiritual
emblem of the time.
It has become a way of life that has affected the
Chinese people for generations
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