In Chinese literature, the Tang period (618-907) is considered the golden age of Chinese poetry. Tang Shi San Bai Shou [300 Tang Poems] is a compilation of poems from this period made around 1763 by Heng-tang-tui-shi [Sun Zhu] of the Qing dynasty. Sun's motivation for compiling the collection sprang from his dissatisfaction with the then popular textbook, the Qian Jia Shi [Poems by A Thousand Poets], an earlier collection from the Tang and Sung (960-1279) periods . 

Sun made his own selection of Tang poems based on their popularity and effectiveness in cultivating character. Because it represented equally well each of the classical poetic forms and because it represented the best works by the most prominent Tang poets, Sun's collection became a "best seller" soon after its publication. It has been used for centuries since to teach elementary students to read and write, and also in cultivating character.

Sun's collection is still a classic today, its popularity undiminished. Nearly every Chinese household owns a copy of Tang Shi and poems from it are still included in textbooks and to be memorized by students. We would like to make this World Wide Web version of the poems as a testimony to its compiler's intent : " Learning Tang poems three hundred by heart, you can chant poems though you know not the art ." 

Here are some sample of the 300 poems collections:

Five-character-ancient-verse
 by Li Bai
DOWN ZHONGNAN MOUNTAIN 
TO THE KIND PILLOW AND BOWL OF HUSI

Down the blue mountain in the evening, 
Moonlight was my homeward escort. 
Looking back, I saw my path 
Lie in levels of deep shadow.... 
I was passing the farm-house of a friend, 
When his children called from a gate of thorn 
And led me twining through jade bamboos 
Where green vines caught and held my clothes. 
And I was glad of a chance to rest 
And glad of a chance to drink with my friend.... 
We sang to the tune of the wind in the pines; 
And we finished our songs as the stars went down, 
When, I being drunk and my friend more than happy, 
Between us we forgot the world. 

Five-character-ancient-verse
 by Li Bai
DRINKING ALONE WITH THE MOON

From a pot of wine among the flowers 
I drank alone. There was no one with me -- 
Till, raising my cup, I asked the bright moon 
To bring me my shadow and make us three. 
Alas, the moon was unable to drink 
And my shadow tagged me vacantly; 
But still for a while I had these friends 
To cheer me through the end of spring.... 
I sang. The moon encouraged me. 
I danced. My shadow tumbled after. 
As long as I knew, we were boon companions. 
And then I was drunk, and we lost one another. 
...Shall goodwill ever be secure? 
I watch the long road of the River of Stars. 

Seven-character-regular-verse
 by Cen Can
AN EARLY AUDIENCE AT THE PALACE OF LIGHT 
HARMONIZING SECRETARY JIA ZHI'S POEM

Cock-crow, the Purple Road cold in the dawn; 
Linnet songs, court roofs tinted with April; 
At the Golden Gate morning bell, countless doors open, 
And up the jade steps float a thousand officials 
With flowery scabbards.... Stars have gone down; 
Willows are brushing the dew from the flags -- 
And, alone on the Lake of the Phoenix, a guest 
Is chanting too well The Song of Bright Spring. 

Folk-song-styled-verse
 by Li Bai
A SONG OF CHANGGAN

My hair had hardly covered my forehead. 
I was picking flowers, paying by my door, 
When you, my lover, on a bamboo horse, 
Came trotting in circles and throwing green plums. 
We lived near together on a lane in Ch'ang-kan, 
Both of us young and happy-hearted. 
...At fourteen I became your wife, 
So bashful that I dared not smile, 
And I lowered my head toward a dark corner 
And would not turn to your thousand calls; 
But at fifteen I straightened my brows and laughed, 
Learning that no dust could ever seal our love, 
That even unto death I would await you by my post 
And would never lose heart in the tower of silent watching. 
...Then when I was sixteen, you left on a long journey 
Through the Gorges of Ch'u-t'ang, of rock and whirling water. 
And then came the Fifth-month, more than I could bear, 
And I tried to hear the monkeys in your lofty far-off sky. 
Your footprints by our door, where I had watched you go, 
Were hidden, every one of them, under green moss, 
Hidden under moss too deep to sweep away. 
And the first autumn wind added fallen leaves. 
And now, in the Eighth-month, yellowing butterflies 
Hover, two by two, in our west-garden grasses 
And, because of all this, my heart is breaking 
And I fear for my bright cheeks, lest they fade. 
...Oh, at last, when you return through the three Pa districts, 
Send me a message home ahead! 
And I will come and meet you and will never mind the distance, 
All the way to Chang-feng Sha.