Moon on azalea branches

Author: Fan Weigang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1996-07-01
Features: During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the mainstream Chinese literature of poetry, prose, and essays experienced a decline, while the emerging urban literature, such as opera and fiction, flourished and achieved remarkable success. Besides opera, the Yuan Dynasty also saw the rise of sanqu, which had certain connections with ci poetry. At that time, scholars either wrote sanqu or zaju (a form of Yuan Dynasty drama), but paid little attention to poetry and ci. In the early Yuan Dynasty, the ci poets were either from the Jin Dynasty who entered the Yuan or from the Southern Song Dynasty who also entered the Yuan. Their ci poetry was influenced by the styles of the previous dynasties. After the mid-Yuan Dynasty, more authors emerged, but they still lacked originality. Some of their ci styles were grand and close to Su Shi's, while others were lofty and resembled Liu Guo's. Some excelled in adhering to the rules of ci poetry, while others were bold and extraordinary.