Da Guan Pavilion, as one of the Chinese top ten pavilions in Kunming, attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world. Among them are foreign students who learn Chinese in China, tourists who try to have a deeper understanding of Chinese culture, and local people who enjoy the beautiful sceneries as tourists do. Students who learn Chinese in China have noticed a famous couplet carved in the stones of Jin Hua Pu Pavilion when they visit Da Guan Park: 
曾经沧海难为水，欲上高楼且泊舟。

At a first glance, students might find it hard to understand its meaning even they study in China for years. One student who is now learning Chinese in China at Keats School asked his teacher Ms. Chen about the history of this couplet. Ms Chen explained that the first line of this couplet was collected from the first two celebrated sentences of the fourth poem of four lines——《离思五首》written by Yuan Zhen of Tang Dynasty. These two verses were evolved from “观于海者难为水，游于圣人之门者难为言”of 《孟子•尽心》. Mandarin language students will get a chance to look deeper in this poem when they learn Chinese in China. The poet Yuan Zhen uses this extreme metaphor to mourn for his dead wife Wei Cong and sigh for the affection between him and his wife is as deep as ocean and as beautiful as clouds in Wu Mountain but can’t be found any more in this life. Ms Chen suggested that when learning Chinese in China, students may find it very hard understand Chinese literature. Actually, Chinese literature exists in our daily life and we only need to pay more attention when we study in China. This poem creates the highest state of mourning for the dead of Tang Dynasty and is spread on everybody’s lips.

An American Chinese scholar, Mr. Zhou Cezong has been studying Chinese language and Chinese classical literature quite deeply, especially in the field of Chinese traditional couplet arts. He has published the study monograph on couplet. When Yinglian Society of China established in 1985, Mr. Zhou wrote and sent a couplet for celebration, which says,
沧海巫云原有对，落花归燕总相联

Behind this couplet, it says, 曾经沧海难为水；除却巫山不是云。“是不可无一，不可有二之叹也……”A teacher explained for his students who learn Chinese in China that this meant that no couplet could win the one that Yuan Zhen wrote.

The second line of Yuan Zhen for “曾经沧海难为水” has been the perfect one; other couplets for this seem to make an unworthy continuation of the masterpiece. But switching to another triangle and not competing with it, someone has the courage of writing a creative second line for it. The couplet on Jin Hua Pu Pavilion of Da Guan Pavilion is an example. Some students who study in China know about Chinese culture well said that this couplet was written by Ma Rulong in Lin’an (the present Jianshui) of Qing Dynasty. However, the interesting point is that some students who are now learning Chinese in China with the help of their teachers researched and found that Ma had no talents like this.

In order to get the most out of their time they study abroad in China, the teacher suggested a few books for students to read. The things got more complicated as the teacher said that there was another interesting story for this couplet: Xie Youhou from Pan County, Guizhou of the end of Qing Dynasty came to be a governor of Kunming. He built up a living house at the bank of Panlong River. He wrote a couplet in Spring Festival and posted on the wall to express his feeling about the tyranny in Guizhou at that time. The couplet says,
曾经沧海难为水，寻得桃源好避秦

This couplet was created ingeniously by using the allusion of 《桃花源记》(about the utopian country in Jin Dynasty). Although it is not perfect enough, it uses the past to allude to the present and is not far-fetched. Therefore this couplet is spread by people and the street he lived in was called “桃源街”(Tao Yuan Street). Therefore, when you learn Chinese in China in Kunming, it is worth visiting the Tao Yuan Street with a tour guide, as it not only gives you a better sense of Chinese history, but also a great way to approach how ancient people came up with such beautiful poems. Nowadays, as the development and establishment, a “桃园广场” (Tao Yuan Square) has been developed and become the culture square which is next to the Panlong River in Kunming. learning Chinese in China brings students lots of benefits in terms of Chinese history, Chinese culture, and famous places in China. learning Mandarin Chinese can never be as difficult as you think when you find out how beautifully people express their ideas in such a smart way and how amazing the story is behind the glory of the language itself.