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Chinese poetry is
poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...
written, spoken, or chanted in the
Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...
. While this last term comprises
Classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...
,
Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern standa ...
,
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
,
Yue Chinese Yue () is a group of similar Sinitic languages spoken in Southern China, particularly in Liangguang (the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces). The name Cantonese is often used for the whole group, but linguists prefer to reserve that name for ...
, and other historical and vernacular forms of the language, its poetry generally falls into one of two primary types, ''
Classical Chinese poetry Classical Chinese poetry is traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical Chinese and typified by certain traditional forms, or modes; traditional genres; and connections with particular historical periods, such as the poetry of the Tang dy ...
'' and '' Modern Chinese poetry''. Poetry has consistently been held in extremely high regard in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
, often incorporating expressive folk influences filtered through the minds of Chinese literation. In Chinese culture, poetry has provided a format and a forum for both public and private expressions of deep emotion, offering an audience of peers, readers, and scholars insight into the inner life of Chinese writers across more than two millennia. Chinese poetry often reflects the influence of China's various religious traditions as well.
Classical Chinese poetry Classical Chinese poetry is traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical Chinese and typified by certain traditional forms, or modes; traditional genres; and connections with particular historical periods, such as the poetry of the Tang dy ...
includes, perhaps first and foremost '' shi'' (詩/诗), and also other major types such as '' ci'' (詞/词) and '' qu'' (曲). There is also a traditional Chinese literary form called '' fu'' (賦/赋), which defies categorization into English more than the other terms, but perhaps can best be described as a kind of
prose-poem Prose poetry is poetry written in prose form instead of verse form, while preserving poetic qualities such as heightened imagery, parataxis, and emotional effects. Characteristics Prose poetry is written as prose, without the line breaks associ ...
. During the modern period, there also has developed
free verse Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French '' vers libre'' form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech. Defi ...
in Western style. Traditional forms of Chinese
poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...
are
rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...
d, however the mere rhyming of text may not qualify literature as being poetry; and, as well, the lack of rhyme would not necessarily disqualify a modern work from being considered poetry, in the sense of modern Chinese poetry.


Beginnings of the tradition: ''Shijing'' and ''Chuci''

The earliest extant anthologies are the '' Shi Jing'' (詩經) and ''
Chu Ci The ''Chu ci'', variously translated as ''Verses of Chu,'' ''Songs of Chu'', or ''Elegies of Chu'', is an ancient anthology of Chinese poetry including works traditionally attributed mainly to Qu Yuan and Song Yu from the Warring States period ...
'' (楚辭). Both of these have had a great impact on the subsequent poetic tradition. Earlier examples of ancient Chinese poetry may have been lost because of the vicissitudes of history, such as the
burning of books and burying of scholars The burning of books and burying of scholars (), also known as burning the books and executing the ru scholars, refers to the purported burning of texts in 213 BCE and live burial of 460 Confucian scholars in 212 BCE by the Chinese emperor ...
(焚書坑儒) by
Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of " king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Empero ...
, although one of the targets of this last event was the '' Shi Jing'', which has nevertheless survived.


''Shijing''

The elder of these two works, the ''
Shijing The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, co ...
'' (also familiarly known, in English, as the ''Classic of Poetry'' and as the ''Book of Songs'' or
transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or L ...
as the ''Sheh Ching'') is a preserved collection of
Classical Chinese poetry Classical Chinese poetry is traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical Chinese and typified by certain traditional forms, or modes; traditional genres; and connections with particular historical periods, such as the poetry of the Tang dy ...
from over two millennia ago. Its content is divided into 3 parts: Feng (風, folk songs from 15 small countries, 160 songs in total), Ya (雅, Imperial court songs, subdivided into daya and xiaoya, 105 songs in total) and Song (頌, singing in ancestral worship, 40 songs in total).This anthology received its final compilation sometime in the 7th century BCE. The collection contains both aristocratic poems regarding life at the royal court ("Odes") and also more rustic poetry and images of natural settings, derived at least to some extent from folk songs ("Songs"). The ''Shijing'' poems are predominantly composed of four-character lines (四言), rather than the five and seven character lines typical of later Classical Chinese poetry. The main techniques of expression (rhetorics) are Fu (賦, Direct elaborate narrative), bi (比, metaphor) and Xing (興, describe other thing to foreshadowing the main content).


''Chuci''

In contrast to the classic ''Shijing'', the ''
Chu Ci The ''Chu ci'', variously translated as ''Verses of Chu,'' ''Songs of Chu'', or ''Elegies of Chu'', is an ancient anthology of Chinese poetry including works traditionally attributed mainly to Qu Yuan and Song Yu from the Warring States period ...
'' anthology (also familiarly known, in English, as the ''Songs of Chu'' or the ''Songs of the South'' or
transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or L ...
as the ''Chu Tz'u'') consists of verses more emphasizing lyric and romantic features, as well as irregular line-lengths and other influences from the poetry typical of the state of Chu. The ''Chuci'' collection consists primarily of poems ascribed to Qu Yuan (屈原) (329–299 BCE) and his follower Song Yu, although in its present form the anthology dates to Wang I's 158 CE compilation and notes, which are the only historically reliable sources of both the text and information regarding its composition. During the
Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...
(206 BCE−220 CE), the ''Chu Ci'' style of poetry contributed to the evolution of the '' fu'' ("descriptive poem") style, typified by a mixture of verse and prose passages (often used as a virtuoso display the poet's skills and knowledge rather than to convey intimate emotional experiences). The ''fu'' form remained popular during the subsequent
Six Dynasties Six Dynasties (; 220–589 or 222–589) is a collective term for six Han-ruled Chinese dynasties that existed from the early 3rd century AD to the late 6th century AD. The Six Dynasties period overlapped with the era of the Sixteen Kingdoms ...
period, although it became shorter and more personal. The ''fu'' form of poetry remains as one of the generic pillars of Chinese poetry; although, in the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
, five-character and seven-character '' shi'' poetry begins to dominate.


Han poetry

Also during the
Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...
, a folk-song style of poetry became popular, known as '' yuefu'' (樂府/乐府) "
Music Bureau The Music Bureau (Traditional Chinese: 樂府; Simplified Chinese: 乐府; Hanyu Pinyin: ''yuèfǔ'', and sometimes known as the "Imperial Music Bureau") served in the capacity of an organ of various imperial government bureaucracies of China: di ...
" poems, so named because of the government's role in collecting such poems, although in time some poets began composing original works in ''yuefu'' style. Many ''yuefu'' poems are composed of five-character (五言) or seven-character (七言) lines, in contrast to the four-character lines of earlier times. A characteristic form of Han Dynasty literature is the '' fu''. The poetic period of the end of the Han Dynasty and the beginning of the Six Dynasties era is known as
Jian'an poetry Jian'an poetry, or Chien'an poetry (), refers to the styles of Chinese poetry particularly associated with the end of the Han dynasty and the beginning of the Six Dynasties era of China. This poetry category is particularly important because, in ...
. An important collection of Han poetry is the ''
Nineteen Old Poems ''Nineteen Old Poems'' (), also known as ''Ku-shih shih-chiu shou'' is an anthology of Chinese poems, consisting of nineteen poems which were probably originally collected during the Han Dynasty. These nineteen poems were very influential on late ...
''.


Jian'an poetry

Between and over-lapping the poetry of the latter days of the Han and the beginning period of the Six Dynasties was Jian'an poetry. Examples of surviving poetry from this period include the works of the "Three Caos":
Cao Cao Cao Cao () (; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde (), was a Chinese statesman, warlord and poet. He was the penultimate grand chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, and he amassed immense power in the dynasty's final years. As one o ...
,
Cao Pi Cao Pi () ( – 29 June 226), courtesy name Zihuan, was the first emperor of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the second son of Cao Cao, a warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty, but the eldest s ...
, and
Cao Zhi Cao Zhi (; ; 192 – 27 December 232), courtesy name Zijian (), posthumously known as Prince Si of Chen (陈思王), was a prince of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China, and an accomplished poet in his time. His style ...
.


Six Dynasties poetry

The
Six Dynasties Six Dynasties (; 220–589 or 222–589) is a collective term for six Han-ruled Chinese dynasties that existed from the early 3rd century AD to the late 6th century AD. The Six Dynasties period overlapped with the era of the Sixteen Kingdoms ...
era (220−589 CE) was one of various developments in poetry, both continuing and building on the traditions developed and handed down from previous eras and also leading up to further developments of poetry in the future. Major examples of poetry surviving from this dynamic era include the works of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, the poems of the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, the
Midnight Songs poetry Midnight Songs poetry (), also Tzu-yeh Songs, refers both to a genre of poetry as well as to specifically collected poems under the same name, during the fourth century CE. This is of major significance within the Classical Chinese poetry traditio ...
of the four seasons, the great "fields and garden" poet "Tao Yuanming", the Yongming epoch poets, and the poems collected in the anthology '' New Songs from the Jade Terrace'', compiled by Xu Ling (507–83). The general and poet Lu Ji used Neo-Taoist cosmology to take literary theory in a new direction with his
Wen fu ''Wen fu'' (), translated as "Essay on Literature", "The Poetic Exposition on Literature" or "Rhymeprose on Literature", is an important work in the history of fu poetry itself written in the Fu poetic form by the poet, general, and statesman Lu ...
, or "Essay on Literature" in the Fu poetic form.


Tang poetry

A high point of classical Chinese poetry occurred during the
Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) ...
period (618–907): not only was this period prolific in poets; but, also in poems (perhaps around 50,000 poems survive, many of them collected in the '' Collected Tang Poems''). During the time of, poetry was integrated into almost every aspect of the professional and social life of the literate class, including becoming part of the
Imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...
s taken by anyone wanting a government post. By this point, poetry was being composed according to regulated tone patterns. Regulated and unregulated poetry were distinguished as "ancient-style" '' gushi'' poetry and regulated, "recent-style" ''
jintishi Regulated verse – also known as Jintishi () – is a development within Classical Chinese poetry of the '' shi'' main formal type. Regulated verse is one of the most important of all Classical Chinese poetry types. Although often regarded as a T ...
'' poetry. Jintishi (meaning "new style poetry"), or regulated verse, is a stricter form developed in the early Tang Dynasty with rules governing the structure of a poem, in terms of line-length, number of lines, tonal patterns within the lines, the use of
rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...
, and a certain level of mandatory parallelism. Good examples of the ''gushi'' and ''jintishi'' forms can be found in, respectively, the works of the poets Li Bai and
Du Fu Du Fu (; 712–770) was a Tang dynasty poet and politician. Along with his elder contemporary and friend Li Bai (Li Po), he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets.Ebrey, 103. His greatest ambition was to serve his country ...
. Tang poetic forms include: '' lushi'', a type of regulated verse with an eight-line form having five, six, or seven characters per line; '' ci'' (verse following set rhythmic patterns); and ''
jueju ''Jueju'' (), or Chinese quatrain, is a type of '' jintishi'' ("modern form poetry") that grew popular among Chinese poets in the Tang Dynasty (618–907), although traceable to earlier origins. ''Jueju'' poems are always quatrains; or, more s ...
'' (truncated verse), a four-line poem with five, six, or seven characters per line. Good examples of the ''jueju'' verse form can be found in the poems of Li Bai五言絕右丞,供奉(白曾供奉翰林,故云),七言絕龍標,供奉,絕妙古今 ,別有天地。 and Wang Wei. Over time, some Tang poetry became more realistic, more narrative and more critical of social norms; for example, these traits can be seen in the works of
Bai Juyi Bai Juyi (also Bo Juyi or Po Chü-i; ; 772–846), courtesy name Letian (樂天), was a renowned Chinese poet and Tang dynasty government official. Many of his poems concern his career or observations made about everyday life, including as g ...
. The poetry of the Tang Dynasty remains influential today. Other Late Tang poetry developed a more allusive and surreal character, as can be seen, for example, in the works of Li He and
Li Shangyin Li Shangyin (, 813858), courtesy name Yishan (), was a Chinese poet and politician of the late Tang dynasty, born in the Henei Commandery (now Qinyang, Henan). He is noted for the imagist quality of his poems and his "no title" () style of ...
.


Song poetry

By the
Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...
(960–1279), another form had proven it could provide the flexibility that new poets needed: the '' ci'' (词/詞) lyric—new lyrics written according to the set rhythms of existing tunes. Each of the tunes had music that has often been lost, but having its own meter. Thus, each ''ci'' poem is labeled "To the tune of une Name (调寄 ��牌調寄 ��牌 and fits the meter and rhyme of the tune (much in the same way that Christian hymn writers set new lyrics to pre-existing tunes). The titles of ''ci'' poems are not necessarily related to their subject matter, and many poems may share a title. In terms of their content, ''ci'' poetry most often expressed feelings of desire, often in an adopted persona. However, great exponents of the form, such as the Southern Tang poet
Li Houzhu Li Yu (; 937 – 15 August 978), before 961 known as Li Congjia (), also known as Li Houzhu (; literally "Last Ruler Li" or "Last Lord Li"), was the third rulerUnlike his father and grandfather, Li Yu never ruled as an emperor. His official titl ...
and the Song dynasty poet
Su Shi Su Shi (; 8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), courtesy name Zizhan (), art name Dongpo (), was a Chinese calligrapher, essayist, gastronomer, pharmacologist, poet, politician, and travel writer during the Song dynasty. A major personality of ...
, used the ''ci'' form to address a wide range of topics.


Yuan poetry

Major developments of poetry during the
Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...
(1271–1368) included the development of types of poetry written to fixed-tone patterns, such as for the Yuan opera librettos. After the Song Dynasty, the set rhythms of the ''ci'' came to be reflected in the set-rhythm pieces of
Chinese Sanqu poetry ''Sanqu'' () is a fixed-rhythm form of Classical Chinese poetry or "literary song".Crump (1990), 125 Specifically ''sanqu'' is a subtype of the '' qu'' formal type of poetry. ''Sanqu'' was a notable Chinese poetic form, possibly beginning in the ...
(散曲), a freer form based on new popular songs and dramatic arias, that developed and lasted into the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
(1368-1644). Examples can be seen in the work of playwrights Ma Zhiyuan 馬致遠 (c. 1270–1330) and
Guan Hanqing Guan Hanqing ( 1241–1320), sobriquet "the Oldman of the Studio" (齋叟 Zhāisǒu), was a notable Chinese playwright and poet in the Yuan Dynasty. He has been described as among the most prolific and highly regarded dramatists of the Yuan pe ...
關漢卿 (c. 1300).


Ming poetry

The
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
(1368–1644) poets include Gao Qi (1336–1374),
Li Dongyang Li Dongyang (, 1447–1516) was a Chinese historian, poet, and politician during the Ming dynasty. Born in Beijing, Li began writing since 4 years old. He was invited by the Jingtai Emperor to the court for testing and requested his presence ...
(1447–1516), and
Yuan Hongdao Yuan Hongdao (, 1568–1610) was a Chinese poet of the Ming Dynasty, and one of the Three Yuan Brothers, along with his brothers Yuan Zongdao and Yuan Zhongdao. Hongdao's life spanned nearly the whole of the Wanli period (1573-1620) in Chinese ...
(1568–1610).


Ming-Qing Transition

Ming-Qing Transition includes the interluding/overlapping periods of the brief so-called
Shun dynasty The Shun dynasty (), officially the Great Shun (), was a short-lived Chinese dynasty that existed during the Ming–Qing transition. The dynasty was founded in Xi'an on 8 February 1644, the first day of the lunar year, by Li Zicheng, the leade ...
(also known as Dashun, 1644–1645) and the Southern Ming dynasty (1644 to 1662). One example of poets who wrote during the difficult times of the late
Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han pe ...
, when the already troubled nation was ruled by
Chongzhen Emperor The Chongzhen Emperor (; 6 February 1611 – 25 April 1644), personal name Zhu Youjian (), courtesy name Deyue (),Wang Yuan (王源),''Ju ye tang wen ji'' (《居業堂文集》), vol. 19. "聞之張景蔚親見烈皇帝神主題御諱字德� ...
(reigned 1627 to 1644), the short-lived Dashun regime of peasant-rebel
Li Zicheng Li Zicheng (22 September 1606 – 1645), born Li Hongji, also known by the nickname, Dashing King, was a Chinese peasant rebel leader who overthrew the Ming dynasty in 1644 and ruled over northern China briefly as the emperor of the short-li ...
, and then the
Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) an ...
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
are the so-called Three Masters of Jiangdong: Wu Weiye (1609–1671),
Qian Qianyi Qian Qianyi (; Suzhou dialect: ; 1582–1664) was a Chinese historian, poet, and politician during the late Ming dynasty.Cihai: Page 1704. Qian was a famous author and poet; and along with Gong Dingzi and Wu Weiye was known as one of the Three ...
(1582–1664), and Gong Dingzi (1615–1673).


Qing poetry

The
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
(1644 to 1912) is notable in terms of development of the criticism of poetry and the development of important poetry collections, such as the Qing era collections of Tang dynasty poetry known as the '' QuanTangshi'' and the ''
Three Hundred Tang Poems The ''Three Hundred Tang Poems'' () is an anthology of poems from the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907). It was first compiled around 1763 by Sun Zhu (1722–1778Yu, 64–65), who was a Qing Dynasty scholar and was also known as Hengtang Tuishi ( ...
''. Both ''shi'' and ''ci'' continued to be composed beyond the end of the imperial period.


Post-imperial Classical Chinese poetry

Both ''shi'' and ''ci'' continued to be composed past the end of the imperial period; one example being
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...
, former
Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party The Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party () was the leader of the Chinese Communist Party. The position was established at the 8th National Congress in 1945 and abolished at the 12th National Congress in 1982, bei ...
, who wrote Classical Chinese poetry in his own calligraphic style.


Modern (post-classical) poetry

Modern Chinese poetry (新诗/新詞 "new poetry") refers to the modern vernacular style of poetry, as opposed to the traditional poetry written in
Classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...
language. Usually Modern Chinese poetry does not follow prescribed patterns. Poetry was revolutionized after 1919's
May Fourth Movement The May Fourth Movement was a Chinese anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in front of Tiananmen (The Gate of Heavenly Peace) to protest the Chin ...
, when writers (like
Hu Shih Hu Shih (; 17 December 1891 – 24 February 1962), also known as Hu Suh in early references, was a Chinese diplomat, essayist, literary scholar, philosopher, and politician. Hu is widely recognized today as a key contributor to Chinese libera ...
) tried to use vernacular styles closer to what was being spoken ( baihua) rather than previously prescribed forms. Early 20th-century poets like Xu Zhimo, Guo Moruo and
Wen Yiduo Wen Yiduo (; 24 November 189915 July 1946) was a Chinese poet and scholar known for his nationalistic poetry. Wen was assassinated by the Kuomintang in 1946. Life Wen Yiduo was born Wén Jiāhuá () on 24 November 1899 in what is now Xishui ...
sought to break Chinese poetry from past conventions by adopting Western models. For example, Xu consciously follows the style of the Romantic poets with end-rhymes. In the post-revolutionary
Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
era, poets like Ai Qing used more liberal running lines and direct diction, which were vastly popular and widely imitated. In the contemporary poetic scene, the most important and influential poets are in the group known as Misty Poets, who use oblique
allusion Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...
s and hermetic references. The most important Misty Poets include Shu Ting,
Bei Dao Bei Dao (, born August 2, 1949) is the pen name of the Chinese-American writer Zhao Zhenkai (S: 赵振开, T: 趙振開, P: ''Zhào Zhènkāi''). Among the most acclaimed Chinese-language poets of his generation, he is often regarded as a candida ...
, Gu Cheng, Duo Duo, and Yang Lian, most of whom were exiled after the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...
. A special case is the mystic poet Hai Zi, who became very famous after his suicide. However, even today, the concept of ''modern poetry'' is still debated. There are arguments and contradiction as to whether ''modern poetry'' counts as poetry. Due to the special structure of Chinese writing and Chinese grammar, ''modern poetry,'' or ''free verse'' poetry, may seem like a simple short vernacular essay since they lack some of the structure traditionally used to define poetry.


See also


General

*
Classical Chinese poetry Classical Chinese poetry is traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical Chinese and typified by certain traditional forms, or modes; traditional genres; and connections with particular historical periods, such as the poetry of the Tang dy ...
*
Chinese art Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based in or draws on Chinese ...
*
Shi (poetry) ''Shi'' and ''shih''Based on the Wade-Giles system formerly used by Taiwan and English-speaking countries. are romanizations of the character /, the Chinese word for all poetry generally and across all languages. In Western analysis of the st ...
(the Chinese term for poetry) * Chinese literature *
Chinese classic texts Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucia ...
* List of national poetries * Modern Chinese poetry


Poetry works and collections

* 300 Tang poems * Gao Bing *
List of Three Hundred Tang Poems poets The ''Three Hundred Tang Poems'' () is an anthology of poems from the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907). It was first compiled around 1763 by Sun Zhu (1722–1778Yu, 64–65), who was a Qing Dynasty scholar and was also known as Hengtang Tuishi ...
*
Li Sao "''Li Sao''" (; translation: "Encountering Sorrow") is an ancient Chinese poem from the anthology ''Chuci'' traditionally attributed to Qu Yuan. ''Li Sao'' dates from the late 3rd century BCE, during the Chinese Warring States period. Backgro ...
*
Classic of Poetry The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, c ...
* New Songs from the Jade Terrace * Orchid Pavilion Gathering * Quantangshi * Sun Zhu * Wangchuan ji * Yan Yu (poetry theorist)


Individual poets

* List of Chinese language poets *
List of poems in Chinese or by Chinese poets This is a list of Chinese poems in the broad sense of referring to those poems which have been written in Chinese, translated from Chinese, authored by a Chinese poet, or which have a Chinese geographic origin. Chinese poems are poetry written, sp ...
* Poetry of Cao Cao *
Du Fu Du Fu (; 712–770) was a Tang dynasty poet and politician. Along with his elder contemporary and friend Li Bai (Li Po), he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets.Ebrey, 103. His greatest ambition was to serve his country ...
* Li Bai * Poetry of Mao Zedong * Qu Yuan *
Su Shi Su Shi (; 8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), courtesy name Zizhan (), art name Dongpo (), was a Chinese calligrapher, essayist, gastronomer, pharmacologist, poet, politician, and travel writer during the Song dynasty. A major personality of ...
* Wang Wei * Xu Zhimo


Lists of poets

* List of Chinese-language poets *
List of Three Hundred Tang Poems poets The ''Three Hundred Tang Poems'' () is an anthology of poems from the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907). It was first compiled around 1763 by Sun Zhu (1722–1778Yu, 64–65), who was a Qing Dynasty scholar and was also known as Hengtang Tuishi ...


Important English translators

* Archie Barnes *
Witter Bynner Harold Witter Bynner (August 10, 1881 – June 1, 1968), also known by the pen name Emanuel Morgan, was an American poet and translator. He was known for his long residence in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and association with other literary figures the ...
*
Herbert Giles Herbert Allen Giles (, 8 December 184513 February 1935) was a British diplomat and sinologist who was the professor of Chinese at the University of Cambridge for 35 years. Giles was educated at Charterhouse School before becoming a British ...
* David Hawkes * David Hinton * Bernard Karlgren * David R. Knechtges *
James Legge James Legge (; 20 December 181529 November 1897) was a Scottish linguist, missionary, sinologist, and translator who was best known as an early translator of Classical Chinese texts into English. Legge served as a representative of the Londo ...
*
Amy Lowell Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school, which promoted a return to classical values. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. Life Amy Lowell was born on Febr ...
* Bill Porter *
Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
*
Arthur Waley Arthur David Waley (born Arthur David Schloss, 19 August 188927 June 1966) was an English orientalist and sinologist who achieved both popular and scholarly acclaim for his translations of Chinese and Japanese poetry. Among his honours were t ...
*
Burton Watson Burton Dewitt Watson (June 13, 1925April 1, 2017) was an American sinologist, translator, and writer known for his English translations of Chinese and Japanese literature.Stirling 2006, pg. 92 Watson's translations received many awards, includi ...
*
Victor H. Mair Victor Henry Mair (; born March 25, 1943) is an American sinologist. He is a professor of Chinese at the University of Pennsylvania. Among other accomplishments, Mair has edited the standard ''Columbia History of Chinese Literature'' and the ''Col ...
*Paul W. Kroll * Jonathan Chaves (professor) * Stephen Owen *
Kenneth Rexroth Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth (1905–1982) was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement. Although he did not consider ...


English-language translation collections

*'' Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry''


Technical factors of poetry

*
Classical Chinese poetry Classical Chinese poetry is traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical Chinese and typified by certain traditional forms, or modes; traditional genres; and connections with particular historical periods, such as the poetry of the Tang dy ...
*
Classical Chinese poetry forms Classical Chinese poetry forms are poetry forms or modes which typify the traditional Chinese poems written in Literary Chinese or Classical Chinese. Classical Chinese poetry has various characteristic forms, some attested to as early as the ...
*
Rime dictionary A rime dictionary, rhyme dictionary, or rime book () is an ancient type of Chinese dictionary that collates characters by tone and rhyme, instead of by radical. The most important rime dictionary tradition began with the '' Qieyun'' (601), wh ...
* Tone pattern * Rime table


Notes and references


Bibliography

* Cai, Zong-qi, ed. (2008). ''How to Read Chinese Poetry: A Guided Anthology''. New York: Columbia University Press. * Cui, Jie and Zong-qi Cai (2012). ''How to Read Chinese Poetry Workbook''. New York: Columbia University Press. * Davis, A. R. (Albert Richard), Editor and Introduction, ''The Penguin Book of Chinese Verse''. (Baltimore: Penguin Books (1970). * Holland, Gill (1986). ''Keep an Eye on South Mountain: Translations of Chinese Poetry''. * Liu, James J.Y. (1966). ''The Art of Chinese Poetry''. * Liu, Wu-Chi and Irving Yucheng Lo eds. (1990) ''Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. * Owen, Stephen (1996). ''An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911''. * Yip, Wai-lim (1997). ''Chinese Poetry: An Anthology of Major Modes and Genres ''. Durham and London: Duke University Press.


External links


The Red Brush
– Writing Women of Imperial China *The Columbia University Pres
web page accompanying Cai 2008
has PDF and MP3 files for more than 75 poems and CUP'
web page accompanying Cui 2012
includes MP3 files of modern Chinese translations for dozens of these. * Olga Lomová,
Traditional Chinese Poetry
'
Oxford Bibliographies Online
Chinese Studies). Available through libraries by subscription. Selective, annotated bibliography. {{Portal bar, China, Poetry Chinese literature Poetry by country