Today life is so hectic that once in a while it’s good to slow down, and poetry can help you do that.”

Wen Chen, 30-year-old Beijinger whose interest in poetry was rekindled after watching Rendezvous With Chinese Poetry

Huang says schools have all but destroyed students’ interest in poetry by forcing them to devour and memorize poems as little more than exam fodder. In addition, many students have little time to read poetry other than what is in the syllabus.

In any case it is usually difficult for studentstomemorizeletaloneappreciate classic poems because modern lifeandwhatisconveyedinpoemsare worlds apart, Huang says.

Nevertheless middle school students ought to be obliged to read and memorize more poems and thus gain a basic ability to appreciate them, he says.

The view that rote learning tends to kill students’ interest in classic poems is one that has wide support, but Wen Chen says he does not fully endorse that position.

He was made to memorize poems as a student, and he is grateful that this was done, he says. The process was boring, he says, but it bore fruit in that he was able to familiarize himself with many classic poems and engrave them in his mind.

“Unlike mathematical formulas, poems we memorized had a farreaching influence, and I can still feel it all these year later.”

Role of TV

Over the past few years other CCTV programs dedicated to traditional culture, such as Rendezvous With Chinese Riddles and Rendezvous With Chinese Sayings, have also had huge viewer appeal, and it seems that one result is that more Chinese are paying greater attention to traditional culture.

In addition to the debate about education, the popularity of such programs has fueled a debate about how traditional Chinese culture such as classic poetry should be further promoted.

Pu Cunxin, an actor who is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political ConsultativeConference,seesTVasavaluable way of enhancing the image of art forms such as classic poetry.

The public has tremendous cultural needs, he says, and TV stations have a lot to gain, and they should do more to influence more people, Pu said during this year’s CPPCC session in March.

However, Feng Jicai, an author and scholar, while agreeing that TV programs can arouse interest in poetry among young Chinese in particular, says more innovative measures are needed to pass on traditional culture.

The influence that TV has can be exaggerated, he says.

“Popular cultural TV shows won’t work for all,” Feng said at the CPPCC session.