Teenager wins Chinese ancient poetry competition

A 16-year-old student has won a televised Chinese poetry competition winning fans over with her keen knowledge of the country's ancient culture and works.

Wu Yishu, a student at the High School Affiliated to Fudan University in Shanghai, beat other competitors in the second season of the Chinese Poetry Conference on China Central Television on Feb 7.

"I get feelings from ancient poetry that modern people cannot give me. I pay little attention to the competition result, but I love poetry, and it is enough as long as I enjoy the happiness brought by the poetry," Wu said.

In the final, Wu performed strongly in many sections, such as competitors recalling poems by looking at sand paintings and reciting poems as many as they could think of relating to the Chinese character "Jiu," meaning liquor.

As early as Feb 1, when Wu recited an ancient Chinese poem about the months of the year, the judges estimated that Wu must have remembered at least more than 2,000 Chinese ancient works.

Wu's strong performance in the Chinese ancient rhythm works earned her many fans and inspired others to learn ancient works.

The 1.8-meter tall Wu said that she kept only one ancient poetry book on bookshelves at her dormitory room instead of other books such as math, physics and chemistry books that her classmates have kept on their bookshelves.

She is known among her classmates and teachers as she loves reading poetry and wearing ancient Chinese clothes.

Zhou Hong, a professor from the Department of Chinese language and literature of East China Normal University, said that he had read some of the girl's poetry in 2015, and had published some on his blog.