Writing a poem in Chinese is a great way to practice Chinese calligraphy.
Below, I have given instructions on how to write a famous poem by one of China’s most famous poets.
How to write ‘Quiet Night Thoughts’ by Li Bai in Chinese
‘Quiet Night Thoughts’ (静夜思) by Li Bai (701AD – 762 AD) is one the most famous poems in China.
Along with his friend, Du Fu (712 – 770 AD), Li Bai is generally considered the greatest poet in Chinese history.
He lived during the Tang dynasty (618 – 907 AD), which is seen as a golden age in Chinese history. Its political and cultural achievements were vast.
‘Quiet Night Thoughts’ is a short quatrain poem (绝句), with only 20 characters.
It’s not certain what year it was written. The years 726, 727, 731 and 749 have all been suggested by various scholars, but no date has been confirmed.
Li spent much of his life travelling away from home, often in pursuit of an official position.
Like most classical poetry, it says a lot with only a few words.
Direction characters should be written in
You can write the characters of the poem left to write, just as English translation is written and just as the poem is written above.
(Or, you can write it in the traditional way Chinese was written: from the top to the bottom and from right to left. The strokes and stroke order are the same either way. )
Below is the above, modern way of writing it with simplified Chinese characters (the ones used in China today.)
Stroke order of ‘Quiet Night Thoughts’
Line 1: Bright morning before my bed
Line 2: Like frost across the floor
Line 3: Raised my head and gazed at it
Line 4: Lowered my head, thought of home
