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This famous herdsman's folksong originates in the Northern Dynasties, nearly 2000 years ago. 

<h4>The language</h4>
Remember, this is a poem, not prose. So, the author doesn't spell out every single <em>I</em>, <em>You</em>, and <em>My</em>. In fact, he leaves those words out all together. Instead, he paints a picture with carefully chosen characters. So, if this is your first attempt at reading Chinese poetry, I recommend you take it line by line, first understand the meaning of each character, and then try to imagine their meanings all together, and see if you can get a mental image of the scene.

Mostly, this poem is comprised of surprisingly easy characters, but there's an advanced word or two sprinkled in. Probably most difficult is this one: 

疑 [pinyin]yi2[/pinyin] - Poets sure do love to compare things to other things, and in Chinese, this is one of the words that lets them do it. It's a literary way to say "as if", or "seem like". So 疑是 means "As if it is _______" or "Seems like it is _______". It's a little difficult because in modern Chinese, this character is usually related to doubt or suspicion, but that's not the way it's being used here.

I should also probably clarify that 望 [pinyin]wang4[/pinyin] has quite a few definitions, and the one used here is "to gaze towards". 

Not all of Li Bai's works are so simple, but if you'd like to get a little deeper into the world of Tang poetry, you might consider picking up <a href="https://amzn.to/2VYn3hV" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">this narrative Biography of Li Bai</a> for Kindle, or <a href="https://amzn.to/2VonO4v" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">an English translation of his works</a>.
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<h4>《敕勒歌》</h4>
敕勒川，
阴山下。

天似穹庐，
笼盖四野。

天苍苍，野茫茫，
风吹草低见牛羊。
<h6>Buy on Amazon:</h6>
<a href="https://amzn.to/2VYn3hV" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kindle Li Bai biography</a> or <a href="https://amzn.to/2VonO4v" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">his poems in English</a>.
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[hide-this-part morelink="Show English translation"]
敕勒川，
阴山下。
Something river, 
beneath the shady mountain. 

天似穹庐，
笼盖四野。
The sky is like a YURT,
covering the four wilds. 

天苍苍，野茫茫，
风吹草低见牛羊。
The sky is SOMETHING, the wilderness is vast.
The wind blows the grass down revealing the oxen and sheep.
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