A short answer; No, reading Chinese poems will not help you improve your Chinese. I recently wrote a blog about this. Can reading Chinese poems improve my Chinese level? )
In fact, China's poems can be beautiful. Anyone who studies Chinese characters hard knows that many Chinese characters are meaningful and subtle. If written in prose, these characters will combine words and context to weave a story with deeper meaning, insight and reflection. I must admit that several times, after reading, thinking and finally understanding a poem, I seem to have found a hidden treasure, which not only brings calm satisfaction, but also seems to convey the wisdom of the times.
In view of this, it is no wonder that some teachers with higher language proficiency may praise the advantages of China's poems and even ask their students to become diligent classic students. Although the reward is sweet, reading Chinese poems is not the best way to improve Chinese.
To give a very simple (I emphasize simplicity) example, think about the following poem, which is included in the first semester Chinese textbook of Shanghai Senior One. "Painting" looks at the mountain from a distance, but listening to the water is silent. Spring has passed, but there are still many flowers and flowers. People go nearby, but the birds are still not disturbed.
If you can read this article, congratulations! Is this poem not good? It will make you stop for a moment and meditate on the beautiful and quiet scenery: beautiful and colorful mountains, quiet streams, blooming spring flowers, birds and flowers, people coming and going. Surprisingly, it is also one of the simplest poems in existence. In the 20-character poem, HSK level 3 is at 18, and the other two are at HSK level 4 (no accident). Although this poem is very simple, that is why it is not very helpful for learning Chinese.
It is too short. Poetry is short in nature and is used to chew and digest slowly. Poetry is not designed to be very long, but reading a long text is of great help to language acquisition, because there are many repetitions, which leads to the next reason. ....
There is no repetition. The research shows that a word needs to be touched 10-20 times to really learn, and it is more about learning how it is used in different word pairs and different contexts. Poetry cannot provide this type of repetition.
It can't reflect how people talk or communicate in their daily lives. Do we speak English like writing poems in English? Unless your name is Longfellow. So do people in China. It is rich and beautiful, but people don't talk like this in daily life.
Low context. Usually, there is little context in poetry, or the context is vague. Therefore, it is unclear whether or how these words/phrases are used in daily life.
Frequent use of obscure characters. This is more common when reading classical poetry. Character appearance refers to a very specific part of a soldier's weapon or you will know duckweed's very specific character: "Ping" (true story). Only when reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms or classical poetry will you meet these characters. In order to understand the content of the article, you often have to spend more time looking up the dictionary and translating. Finally, you may understand what you read, but you may forget the people you have contacted.
It's great to be able to read China's poems! However, China's poems should be regarded as a reward for efforts, rather than a step to improve Chinese.