<p>I am a Chinese who happens to know the basics of Cantonese and grew up listening to some Cantonese pop songs.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Is there any famous traditional Chinese poet who lived in Guangdong and/or is known to or can be assumed to have written poetry for Cantonese?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>No I do not think there is any famous traditional Chinese poet who did that. There is an author 黄霑 who has some work written in Written Cantonese such as《不文集》, 《香港仔手记》and 《问我》.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Are there any collections of modern Cantonese poetry following any traditional style (from anywhere)?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>No, I do not believe so. However, there are tons of Cantonese songs like those played by Beyond (band). For all the subtitles I have ever seen for popular Cantonese songs in my entire life, there is not one written in Written Cantonese. They are all written in mandarin Chinese or traditional Chinese.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Are there any other sources one should know about?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>You might have seen this but the wikipedia page for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Written_Cantonese" rel="nofollow">Written Cantonese</a> is actually quite neat.</p>

<p>This link for <a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B2%B5%E8%AA%9E%E7%99%BD%E8%A9%B1%E6%96%87" rel="nofollow">粤语白话文</a> should be useful too </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-28T07:18:14.157Z
There were quite a number of popular songs written in Cantonese sung by Sam Hui (許冠傑) in the late 1970s to early 1980s, e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErGjJ-SjBQ4 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi7hdoUd2_s , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LmNfCAshRs ,,,,, and many more
velut luna
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-19T09:59:02.903Z
Thank you. I have not accepted your answer for now, but upvoted it. 1. Good to know about 黄霑 and his works 2. I'm not sure I follow, by song subtitles, do you mean in karaoke? Any song can be written using either simplified or traditional Chinese, but it's not hard to find songs using Cantonese-specific words/characters. 3. Yes, those pages are very informative!
Toerndev
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-19T13:40:03.083Z
"They are all written in mandarin Chinese or traditional Chinese." Traditional Chinese is a script, not a language. You can write Mandarin in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese. Conversely, you can write a few languages and dialects in Traditional.
dda
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-19T13:40:56.793Z
"[...] subtitles [...], there is not one written in Written Cantonese." I have seen plenty in HK and Guandong KTVs.
dda
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-19T20:10:09.187Z
@gaidal, for your comment 2, yes I mean those in karaoke. I also digged a little bit more into this and I found this [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lms601IbwQQ). So my bad, there are actually karaoke subtitles in Written Cantonese.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-19T20:15:58.690Z
@dda Thank you for pointing this out to me.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-19T20:17:26.240Z
@gaidal The answer given by dda might be exactly what you are looking for.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-20T05:21:28.153Z
To add to this, I have a bunch of (bootleg) VCDs of foreign and HK movies, yeah I know, the ancestor of DVDs, made in Shenzhen and sold in HK, that have Cantonese subtitles.
dda
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-19T00:20:02.297Z
2013-01-19T14:24:22.417Z
2013-01-19T14:24:22.417Z
Michael
<p>
    王安石的“<b>桂枝香</b>”用粤语来读十分完美：


    <p>
<br>
    </p>
</p>

<p>
    <p>

    </p>
</p>

<p>
    登临送目，<br><br>
正故国晚秋，天气初肃。
    <p>
    </p>
</p>

<p>
    千里澄江似练，翠峰如簇。
    <p>
    </p>
</p>

<p>
    征帆去棹残阳里，背西风，酒旗斜矗。
    <p>
    </p>
</p>

<p>
    <p>

    </p>
</p>

<p>
    彩舟云淡，星河鹭起，画图难足。
    <p>
<br>
    </p>
</p>

<p>
    念往昔，繁华竞逐，
    <p>
    </p>
</p>

<p>
    叹门外楼头，悲恨相续。
    <p>
    </p>
</p>

<p>
    千古凭高对此，谩嗟荣辱。
    <p>
    </p>
</p>

<p>
    <p>

    </p>
</p>

<p>
    六朝旧事随流水，但寒烟衰草凝绿。
    <p>
    </p>
<br>
</p>

<p>
    至今商女，时时犹唱，后庭遗曲。
    <p>
    </p>
</p>

<p><br>
<br></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-05T03:22:41.437Z
2015-02-06T01:54:43.700Z
2015-02-06T01:54:43.700Z
Leo L.S. LIU
<ol>
<li>Google <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=%E7%B2%B5%E8%A9%A9&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;oe=UTF-8">粵詩</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://bbs.cantonese.asia/thread-31942-1-1.html">This article</a> (PDF Download from Cantonese Association) in 趣味詩文 gives a few examples.</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-19T13:48:30.913Z
2013-01-19T13:48:30.913Z
dda
<p>I would like to identify some Cantonese poetry to study, and I'm looking for the kind of poetry that follows a recognized style and is bound by certain rules (even Cantonese haiku or limericks would do).</p>

<p>Now obviously there is lots of classical Chinese poetry which can all be read in Cantonese. However this might sometimes not sound very natural, and I'm looking for poems that sound natural, not awkward, when read in Cantonese.</p>

<p>I'm aware that written Cantonese is a very recent thing, and that classical written Chinese was sort of separated from spoken language; that "traditional Cantonese poetry" might be a self-contradictory term to some extent. Even so, I think some Cantonese poets would have had their own native pronunciation in mind, when supposedly writing the same non-verbal, classical written Chinese as everyone else, to a greater extent than someone from the other side of the country would have. My theory is that poetry by such poets might sound more natural in Cantonese, and it would qualify as "Cantonese poetry" for me.</p>

<p>My question(s):</p>

<ul>
<li>Is there any famous traditional Chinese poet who lived in Guangdong and/or is known to or can be assumed to have written poetry with Cantonese in mind?</li>
<li>Are there any collections of modern Cantonese poetry following any recognized style (also non-Chinese styles)?   </li>
<li>Are there any other sources one should know about?</li>
</ul>

<p>EDIT: I keep updating this as I think of ways to make more sense.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-02T07:34:36.220Z
"Cantonese" and "slang" are two different concepts, don't mix them up.  There are also Mandarin slang which are not accepted in formal writings.  And classical poems _DO_ sound more natural when read in Cantonese than in Mandarin.
Henry HO
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-06T02:42:11.560Z
And .... you should have asked "Where can I find Mandarin poetry"?
Henry HO
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-17T17:53:11.000Z
I actually like this question. It's community-wiki worthy imho.
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-18T03:23:04.897Z
There is no such thing called Cantonese poetry.
tomriddle_1234
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-18T10:00:19.980Z
@tomriddle_1234 What do you mean?
Alenanno
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-18T10:01:49.727Z
@gaidal The question is still a bit poor, however I doubt it will encourage tons of answers, so I'm going to reopen it. If it goes bad, I might need to re-close it (but I doubt that).
Alenanno
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-19T09:26:01.827Z
@Alenanno Thank you! Feel free to point out any specific ways in which it could be improved.
Toerndev
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-19T10:53:50.750Z
"There is no such thing called Cantonese poetry" Sigh. I suggest you google/baidu "粵詩" and "粵語詩"....
dda
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-19T13:36:51.467Z
They are still not Cantonese poetry, since Cantonese is not a language but a dialect. You can speak whatever you want in whatever dialect, but in written, you should use standard Chinese. Poetry is in written. So you can only say this is 白话诗掺杂粤语方言. 它不能作为粤语诗被承认，因为语法与词汇都没有规范。
tomriddle_1234
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-19T13:49:20.567Z
Sigh, such ignorance...
dda
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-20T07:35:11.603Z
@Alenanno I think it's a good suggestion to turn this into a wiki, if you agree, please help me to convert the question.
Toerndev
<cantonese><poetry>
Where can I find Cantonese poetry?
# Where can I find Cantonese poetry?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-01-16)

I would like to identify some Cantonese poetry to study, and I'm looking for the kind of poetry that follows a recognized style and is bound by certain rules (even Cantonese haiku or limericks would do).

Now obviously there is lots of classical Chinese poetry which can all be read in Cantonese. However this might sometimes not sound very natural, and I'm looking for poems that sound natural, not awkward, when read in Cantonese.

I'm aware that written Cantonese is a very recent thing, and that classical written Chinese was sort of separated from spoken language; that "traditional Cantonese poetry" might be a self-contradictory term to some extent. Even so, I think some Cantonese poets would have had their own native pronunciation in mind, when supposedly writing the same non-verbal, classical written Chinese as everyone else, to a greater extent than someone from the other side of the country would have. My theory is that poetry by such poets might sound more natural in Cantonese, and it would qualify as "Cantonese poetry" for me.

My question(s):

* Is there any famous traditional Chinese poet who lived in Guangdong and/or is known to or can be assumed to have written poetry with Cantonese in mind?
* Are there any collections of modern Cantonese poetry following any recognized style (also non-Chinese styles)?
* Are there any other sources one should know about?

EDIT: I keep updating this as I think of ways to make more sense.

**Tags:** cantonese, poetry

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: I actually like this question. It's community-wiki worthy imho.  
> **username_3**: There is no such thing called Cantonese poetry.  
> **username_4**: @username_3 What do you mean?  
> **username_4**: @gaidal The question is still a bit poor, however I doubt it will encourage tons of answers, so I'm going to reopen it. If it goes bad, I might need to re-close it (but I doubt that).  
> **username_0**: @username_4 Thank you! Feel free to point out any specific ways in which it could be improved.  
> **username_5**: "There is no such thing called Cantonese poetry" Sigh. I suggest you google/baidu "粵詩" and "粵語詩"....  
> **username_3**: They are still not Cantonese poetry, since Cantonese is not a language but a dialect. You can speak whatever you want in whatever dialect, but in written, you should use standard Chinese. Poetry is in written. So you can only say this is 白话诗掺杂粤语方言. 它不能作为粤语诗被承认，因为语法与词汇都没有规范。  
> **username_5**: Sigh, such ignorance...  
> **username_0**: @username_4 I think it's a good suggestion to turn this into a wiki, if you agree, please help me to convert the question.  
> **username_1**: "Cantonese" and "slang" are two different concepts, don't mix them up.  There are also Mandarin slang which are not accepted in formal writings.  And classical poems _DO_ sound more natural when read in Cantonese than in Mandarin.  
> **username_1**: And .... you should have asked "Where can I find Mandarin poetry"?  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2013-01-19. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

1. Google [粵詩](http://www.google.com/search?q=%E7%B2%B5%E8%A9%A9&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8).
2. [This article](http://bbs.cantonese.asia/thread-31942-1-1.html) (PDF Download from Cantonese Association) in 趣味詩文 gives a few examples.


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2013-01-19. Score: 3

I am a Chinese who happens to know the basics of Cantonese and grew up listening to some Cantonese pop songs.

> Is there any famous traditional Chinese poet who lived in Guangdong and/or is known to or can be assumed to have written poetry for Cantonese?

No I do not think there is any famous traditional Chinese poet who did that. There is an author 黄霑 who has some work written in Written Cantonese such as《不文集》, 《香港仔手记》and 《问我》.

> Are there any collections of modern Cantonese poetry following any traditional style (from anywhere)?

No, I do not believe so. However, there are tons of Cantonese songs like those played by Beyond (band). For all the subtitles I have ever seen for popular Cantonese songs in my entire life, there is not one written in Written Cantonese. They are all written in mandarin Chinese or traditional Chinese.

> Are there any other sources one should know about?

You might have seen this but the wikipedia page for [Written Cantonese](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Written_Cantonese) is actually quite neat.

This link for [粤语白话文](http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B2%B5%E8%AA%9E%E7%99%BD%E8%A9%B1%E6%96%87) should be useful too

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you. I have not accepted your answer for now, but upvoted it. 1. Good to know about 黄霑 and his works 2. I'm not sure I follow, by song subtitles, do you mean in karaoke? Any song can be written using either simplified or traditional Chinese, but it's not hard to find songs using Cantonese-specific words/characters. 3. Yes, those pages are very informative!  
> **username_5**: "They are all written in mandarin Chinese or traditional Chinese." Traditional Chinese is a script, not a language. You can write Mandarin in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese. Conversely, you can write a few languages and dialects in Traditional.  
> **username_5**: "[...] subtitles [...], there is not one written in Written Cantonese." I have seen plenty in HK and Guandong KTVs.  
> **username_6**: @gaidal, for your comment 2, yes I mean those in karaoke. I also digged a little bit more into this and I found this [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lms601IbwQQ). So my bad, there are actually karaoke subtitles in Written Cantonese.  
> **username_6**: @username_5 Thank you for pointing this out to me.  
> **username_6**: @gaidal The answer given by dda might be exactly what you are looking for.  
> **username_5**: To add to this, I have a bunch of (bootleg) VCDs of foreign and HK movies, yeah I know, the ancestor of DVDs, made in Shenzhen and sold in HK, that have Cantonese subtitles.  
> **username_7**: There were quite a number of popular songs written in Cantonese sung by Sam Hui (許冠傑) in the late 1970s to early 1980s, e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErGjJ-SjBQ4 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi7hdoUd2_s , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LmNfCAshRs ,,,,, and many more  

---

### Answer by username_8 on 2015-02-05. Score: 0

王安石的“**桂枝香**”用粤语来读十分完美：

登临送目，  
  
正故国晚秋，天气初肃。

千里澄江似练，翠峰如簇。

征帆去棹残阳里，背西风，酒旗斜矗。

彩舟云淡，星河鹭起，画图难足。

念往昔，繁华竞逐，

叹门外楼头，悲恨相续。

千古凭高对此，谩嗟荣辱。

六朝旧事随流水，但寒烟衰草凝绿。

  

至今商女，时时犹唱，后庭遗曲。


---

