Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den 施氏食獅史
Shī shì shí shī shǐ · from Chinese
What is the Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den poem?
The Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den is a Classical Chinese poem by Yuen Ren Chao in which every syllable is pronounced shi in Mandarin, varying only in tone.
Chao wrote it to show that Classical Chinese, readable on paper, becomes incomprehensible when spoken in Mandarin, and so to argue for the role of characters (or against romanising Classical Chinese). It tells of Mr Shi who vowed to eat ten lions. It is a famous demonstration of how much modern Mandarin relies on characters and multi-syllable words.
Examples
石室詩士施氏，嗜獅，誓食十獅 shíshì shīshì Shī shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī (in a stone den was a poet called Shi, who was a lion addict and resolved to eat ten lions)
Kungfucius says: Ninety-odd syllables of shi. Proof that tones matter, and that Chinese linguists have a sense of humour.