| Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den | |
|---|---|
 A stone lion | |
| Traditional Chinese | 施氏食獅史 |
| Simplified Chinese | 施氏食狮史 |
| Literal meaning | The story of Mr. Shi eating lions |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Shīshì shí shī shǐ |
| Bopomofo | ㄕ ㄕˋ ㄕˊ ㄕ ㄕˇ |
| Gwoyeu Romatzyh | Shy-shyh shyr shy shyy |
| Wade–Giles | Shih1-shih4 shih2 shih1 shih3 |
| Tongyong Pinyin | Shih-shìh shíh shih shǐh |
| IPA | [ʂɻ̩́ ʂɻ̩̂ ʂɻ̩̌ ʂɻ̩́ ʂɻ̩̀] |
| Yale Romanization | Sī-sih sihk sī sí |
| Jyutping | Si1-si6 sik6 si1 si2 |
| IPA | [si˥ si˨ sɪk̚˨ si˥ si˧˥] |
| Hokkien POJ | Si-sī si̍t sai sú |
"Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den" is a short narrative poem written in Literary Chinese, composed of around 92 to 94 characters (depending on the specific version) in which every word is pronounced shi ([ʂɻ̩]) when read in modern Standard Chinese, with only the tones differing.[1]
The poem was written in the 1930s by the Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao as a linguistic demonstration. The poem is coherent and grammatical in Literary Chinese, but due to the number of Chinese homophones, it becomes difficult to understand in oral speech. In Mandarin, the poem is incomprehensible when read aloud, since only four syllables cover all the words of the poem. The poem is somewhat more comprehensible when read in other varieties such as Cantonese, in which it has 22 different syllables, or Hokkien, in which it has 15 different syllables.
The poem is an example of a one-syllable article, a form of constrained writing possible in tonal languages such as Mandarin Chinese, where tonal contours expand the range of meaning for a single syllable.