在中國古代，兒童這一形象是怎樣被捕捉的呢？兒童在儒家倫理規範下，可謂是“縮小版的大人”。因此，“老成的兒童”形象一直被稱讚，而“純真的兒童”形象則有被否定或排除的傾向。其中值得注意的是陶淵明的詩。陶淵明在詩歌中傾心表現“純真的兒童”的形象。從他敢於描寫儒家言説所否定的兒童形象這一點説，他的詩可謂具有劃時代的意義。這樣的作品在陶淵明之後的六朝詩人中並没有出現，而到唐代杜甫那裏卻出現了。和陶淵明描寫的一樣，純真的兒童形象在諸多杜詩中被栩栩如生地表現出來。更值得注意的是，杜甫首次在詩歌中追憶他自己的童年，而且總是帶著鄉愁。這種情況包括陶淵明在内也是没有的，到杜甫纔初次開闢了這一新主題。至宋代，陶淵明、杜甫所開拓的兒童的主題被廣泛繼承。北宋的蘇軾和黄庭堅詩中都可看出此主題的呈現，與之相較更值得注意的是南宋陸游和楊萬里的詩歌。在中國古代，描寫兒童作品最多的詩人恐怕就是陸游和楊萬里。他們的詩明顯深化了兒童與童年這一主題。陶淵明與陸游、楊萬里，他們一生都與故鄉緊密聯繫，創作了許多歌詠農村田園生活的詩歌。就杜甫來説，他所描寫的雖然不是故鄉而是異鄉的農村，但是歌頌田園生活的詩歌依然占多數。他們所描寫的兒童形象，基本活躍於農村田園詩中。中國詩歌中關於兒童的主題，是與鄉村社會及其田園空間的主題相關連的。本文就上述的觀點加以論述。

How were the images of children outlined in ancient China? In the course of coming of age in accordance with Confucian ethical norms, children were regarded as “miniature adults.” For this reason, “matured children＂ were always praised, while “naïve children” were prone to negation or repulsion. Tao Yuanming's (ca. 365-427) poems deserve our attention. Tao wholeheartedly represents the image of “naïve children.” Bravely going against the Confucian denigration of such children, Tao wrote about them and thereby achieved epoch-making significance. No other poems on this topic were written after Tao's during the Six Dynasties period until Du Fu (712-770) in the Tang. Like what Tao did in his poetry, Du vividly depicted the images of naïve children in numerous poems. Most noteworthy is that Du Fu for the first time wrote about his own childhood in reminiscence and nostalgia. This unique representation mode is not found in Tao Yuanming's works; it was Du Fu who initiated this new poetic theme. In the Song, the theme of children established and developed respectively by Tao and Du was widely adopted. It is evident in Su Shi's (1037-110) and Huang Tingjian's (1045-1105) poetry, but the poems by Lu You (1125-1210) and Yang Wanli (1127-1206) draw our special attention. Lu and Yang are probably most productive in writing poems about children in pre-modern China. Their poems patently deepened the themes of children and childhood. Like Tao Yuanming, Lu You and Yang Wanli were closely tied to their respective homelands and wrote numerous poems praising their idyllic life. While Dufu's writing is not about his own homeland but villages on strange soils, idyllic poems still constitute the majority of his compositions. The images of children are basically set in the context of their idyllic poems. The themes about children in Chinese poetry are related to the themes of rural society and farmland space. The present essay is an elaboration on these observations.