chinese-poetry
A free, open JSON database of classical Chinese poetry, prose and song lyrics.
- Stars
- 54k
- Forks
- 10.9k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- JavaScript
- Last update
- 5 months ago
- Type
- Learning resource
What it is
chinese-poetry is a collection of classical Chinese literature stored as JSON files. It includes large sets of Tang poems, Song poems, and Song lyrics (ci), along with other classics such as the Analects, Book of Songs, and Four Books and Five Classics. The data is meant to make it easier for developers to build poetry apps without collecting texts themselves. The README notes that the data comes from the internet.
- Load the Tang or Song poetry JSON files into a web or mobile app
- Search poems by poet or keyword for a study tool
- Analyze frequent words or popular lyric tune names, as shown in the README's charts
- Build a poem-of-the-day feature or calendar from the dataset
Great for
- Developers building poetry apps, websites, or learning tools
- Researchers or students who want machine-readable classical texts
- Anyone running text analysis or word-frequency experiments on classical Chinese
- Developers training small text-generation experiments, as in the README's showcase examples
Not ideal for
- Readers who want a polished reading app; this is raw data, not a reader
- Users who need verified scholarly editions, since the README says data comes from the internet and corrections are community-driven
- Non-developers who want something to click and use right away
How to get it
- 1
Clone and build from source
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/chinese-poetry/chinese-poetry.git - 2
Run it
- Clone the repository and open the folder.
- Open a dataset folder such as 全唐诗 (Tang poems) or 宋词 (Song lyrics).
- Load the JSON files in your programming language of choice.
- Check a few entries against a trusted edition before relying on them.
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Use the dataset folders listed in the README, such as 全唐诗, 宋词, 论语, and 诗经, to choose the texts you need.
- Review the contribution guidelines on the project wiki if you find a text error; the README asks for sources with corrections.
- Look at the showcase projects listed in the README, such as the Harold-y MySQL integration, for ideas on storing the data in a database.
- Check the linked homepage https://awesome-poetry.top/ for a browsable view of the collection.
Downloads
Strengths
- Large collection: the README cites about 55,000 Tang poems and 260,000 Song poems
- Distributed as JSON, which is easy to read in most programming languages
- MIT licensed, so it can be reused in projects
Trade-offs
- Sources are described only as 'from the internet', so accuracy depends on community corrections
- The README says the collection process was interrupted often, so coverage may be uneven
- No formal release listed, so you must track the repository directly for updates
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| chinese-poetry (this) | 54k | Learning resource | beginner | 5 months ago | Developers building poetry apps, websites, or learning tools |
| chinese-xinhua | 11.7k | Learning resource | beginner | 2.9 years ago | Developers building Chinese word games such as idiom chains |
| javascript-testing-best-practices | 24.6k | Learning resource | beginner | 2.4 years ago | Developers who already write some JavaScript tests and want to improve their structure |
| hacker-laws-zh | 12.5k | Learning resource | beginner | 3.4 years ago | Developers who read Chinese and want an overview of common software design ideas |
| lowdb | 22.6k | Library | beginner | 7 months ago | Node.js developers building small tools or prototypes that need simple persistent storage |
| normalizr | 20.8k | Library | intermediate | 4.6 years ago | JavaScript developers who receive deeply nested API responses and want flat, ID-keyed data |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.