In all fairness, the penetration of poetry into our life structure is much deeper than that in the west, and it is not something that seems to be generally regarded as interesting, but it is not important. ..... If religion has played a purifying role in people's minds, making people feel mysterious and beautiful about the universe and life, and showing considerate compassion for their own kind or other creatures, then in my opinion, poetry has replaced the role of religion in China. Religion is just an inspiration and an active emotion. China people have not found such inspiration and positive emotion in their religion. For them, those religions are just beautiful patches dotted with dark life, which are associated with disease and death. But they found this inspiration and positive emotion in their own poems. Poetry taught China people a concept of life, which deeply penetrated into society through proverbs and poems and gave them. ...
However, without some specific reasons, China's poems would not have gained such an important position in China's life. First of all, China people's literary and artistic genius makes them imagine with passionate concrete image thinking, especially exaggerating the atmosphere, which is very suitable for poetry. Their unique talents of concentration, suggestion, association, sublimation and concentration are not suitable for writing prose with classical constraints, but they can easily write poetry. The significance of this kind of poetry lies in that the poet projects his feelings on the natural scenery, and with the power of his feelings, forces nature to live and die with himself and enjoy the joy and sorrow of the world.
I copied this passage from Mr. Lin Yutang here because I think few people can summarize the relationship between China people and poetry in such a concise language.