Chinese Poetry

By: Lisa Lixiang Shao - Linguist/Translator/Teacher

Chairman and President
UK China Association of Linguists (UCAL)

"Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain" by Emperor Gaozong

Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language. While this last term
comprises Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, and other
historical and vernacular forms of the language, its poetry generally falls into one of two primary
types, Classical Chinese poetry and Modern Chinese poetry.
Poetry has consistently been held in extremely high regard in China, often incorporating expressive
folk influences filtered through the minds of Chinese literati. 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. Westerners also have found in it an interesting and pleasurable field of study, in its
exemplification of essential contrasts between the Western world and Chinese civilization, and on its
own terms.

Classical Chinese poetry forms

Chinese poetry translation difficulties from Chinese to English:

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Causing poetry structural change

Cannot keep the Chinese poetic forms and verses

Wont Rhyme as much or at all anymore

Increase of vocabulary
Losing its original poetic richness and essence
Not able to express as much meaning and thoughts as the original
Not able to feel as much beautiful poetic sense as the original
Feel totally different in terms of poetic forms and tones

Classical Chinese poetry forms are those 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 publication of the Classic of Poetry,
dating from a traditionally, and roughly, estimated time of around 10th-7th century BC. The term
"forms" refers to various formal and technical aspects applied to poems: this includes such poetic
characteristics as meter (such as, line length and number of lines), rhythm (for example, presence
of caesuras, end-stopping, and tone contour), and other considerations such as vocabulary and style.
These forms and modes are generally, but not invariably, independent of the Classical Chinese poetry
genres. Many or most of these were developed by the time of the Tang Dynasty, and the use and
development of Classical Chinese poetry and genres actively continued up to until the May Fourth
Movement, and still continues even today in the 21st century.
There are various formal elements of Classical Chinese verse which are associated with its
classification into formal types.
Scansion
Various factors are considered in scanning Classical Chinese verse in order to determine the meter.
Meter
For the purpose of metrically scanning Classical Chinese verse, the basic unit corresponds to a single
character, or what is considered one syllable: an optional consonant or glide (or in some versions of
reconstructed Old or Middle Chinese a consonantal cluster), an obligatory vowel or vowel cluster (with
or without glides), and an optional final consonant. Thus a seven-character line is identical with a
seven-syllable line; and, barring the presence of compound words, which were rare in Classical
Chinese compared to Modern Chinese (and even people's names would often be abbreviated to one
character), then the line would also be a seven words itself. Classical Chinese tends toward a one-toone correspondence between word, syllable, and a written character. Counting the number of
syllables (which could be read as varying lengths, according to the context), together with
the caesuras, or pauses within the line, and a stop, or long pause at the end of the line, generally
established the meter The characters (or syllables) between the caesuras or end stops can be
considered to be a metric foot. The caesuras tended to both be fixed depending upon the formal rules
for that type of poem and to match the natural rhythm of speech based upon units of mean spanning
the characters.
Line length
Line length could be fixed or variable, and was based on the number of syllables/characters. In more
formal poetry it tended to be fixed, and varied according to specific forms. Lines were generally
combined into couplets. Lines tended to be end-stopped; and, line couplets almost always. Line
length is the fundamental metrical criterion in classifying Classical Chinese poetry forms. Once the

line length is determined, then the most likely division(s) of the line by caesuras is also known, since
they are as a rule fixed in certain positions. Thus, specifying the line-length of a Chinese poem is
equivalent to specifying both the type of feet and the number of feet per line in poetry
using quantitative meter.
Fixed line length poems
A three-character line is known from the Three Character Classic, a book for children written in threecharacter eight-line verse in rhymed couplets.
Four-character lines are encountered in the popular form of verse matching, where two verses are
matched, often with rhyme, and often traditional four-character idioms, frequently drawn from classical
poetry. For instance, two four-character lines may be written on matching scrolls, in Chinese
calligraphy, and each decoratively hung on either side of a door or entrance way, these are known
as Duilian. Some ancient style poetry was also four-line.
Six-character line lengths are relatively rare in fixed-length poems, but are found for example in the
work of Wang Jian.
Five, Seven, and eight (or doubled four character lines) character lines are standard for serious, fixedlength poetry.
Variable line length poems
Some poems have lines of variable lengths within a single poem, either experimentally, as unique
specimens, or in certain fixed formats. For example, the poems written according to fixed patterns
based, or originally based, upon song lyrics such as the ci form or upon folk ballads such as
the yuefu. The "tune", or tonal structure of these poems was also fixed within each specific pattern..
Couplets
Main article: Couplet (Chinese poetry)
Most Classical Chinese verse consists of multiple couplets or pairs of lines (simplified Chinese:
; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: dulin), which are considered to be somehow especially related
to each other by such considerations as meaning, tone-structure, or parallelism.
Poem length
Because of the tendency to write poetry as groups of couplets, most poems had an even number of
lines. Generally four lines (two couplets) were considered to be the minimum length for a poem. In the
case of curtailed verse (jueju), the poem was limited to this length. Other types of poems were limited
to eight lines (four couplets). If the overall length of some form of poetry was not limited, the poems
tended to be written using four- or eight-line stanzas, so the poem lengths would work out to multiples
of four or eight. Some poems were quite long. The length of poems based upon specific song and
ballad forms depended upon the specific tune or form selected as the model
Old, new, regulated, unregulated
Poems of the same length in terms of line-length and poem-length and/or poems within the same
general type were often distinguished by using the concepts "new", "old", "regulated", or
"unregulated".

"Old" versus "new"

"Old" and "new" were generally used to denote a basic change of form within a mode or form, like
"old" yuefu and "new" yuefu. However, the use of these terms can be confusing, since something
called "new" might be centuries old by the present time.
"Regulated" versus "unregulated"
"Regulated" verse, or new-style shi poetry, has very strict and often complex formal limitations, such
as mandatory tonal alterations between adjacent positions within a line, or in regards to the same linepositions between couplets.
Tone
The existence of tone in Old through early Tang Chinese is debatable. Certainly by the major period of
poetic flourishing in Tang, syllable tones were divided into level and not-level. These variations were
or became an important aspect of poetry, sometimes in an esoteric way. The presence or absence of
formal tonal constraints regarding tone pattern varies according to the poetic form of a specific poem.
Sometimes the rules governing the permissible tone patterns for a poem were quite strict, yet still
allowed for a certain amount of liberty and variation, as in the case of Regulated verse. In the fixedtone pattern type of verse the poems were written according to pre-existing models known as "tunes".
Rhythm
Rhythm was mostly a matter of tonal variation, line length, caesuras within lines, and end stopping.
Variations of rhythm were subtly played off in between the various lines within a poem.
Rhyme
Rhyme, or rime, was important in some forms of poetry. However, it was often based on a formal and
traditional schema, such as is in a Rime table or rime dictionary, and not necessarily upon actual
vernacular speech. Also, generally level tones only rhymed with level tones, and non-level tones with
non-level tones. The original rhymes of a poem can be difficult to detect, especially in Modern
Chinese, such as Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese pronunciations (including syllable finals and
tone) tend to be quite different from in the older, historical types of Chinese language, although
perhaps to a lesser extent in Cantonese:
Vocabulary
Certain restrictions or associations of particular words were often typical of certain poetic forms, and
for some forms of poetry there were rules restricting or encouraging the repetition of the same word
within a poem, a stanza, or a line or couplet
Formal Types
Classical Chinese poems are typified by certain formal structures. Some of these can be considered
closed collections, such as the groups of poems actually composing the Classic of Poetry (Shijing),
the Songs of the South (Chuci), or the Nineteen Poems: These corpora were closed categories, one
could not add to these classics, although one might write poems in the similar style, as in Old Style
Poetry (Gushi). Further, one might follow the new styles that were introduced over succeeding
dynasties, or make up one's own style, which may or may not catch on. In terms of literary form,
however, Classical Chinese poetry has the three main formal types: shi, fu, and ci.

Shi
Although in Chinese the word shi can mean "poetry" more or less generically, in a more technical
sense shi refers to a certain more specific tradition within the broader category of poetry, which
references the poems collected in the Shijing and further developments along certain lines. There are
various types of shi poetry, such as "old style" gushiand "new style" jintishi.
Classic of Poetry (Shijing)
This is the style of those poems which compose this collection, the Shijing, or Shi Jing, known
variously in English such as The Book of Songs, the Classic of Poetry, the "Book of Odes", or
just The Odes. Associated with the court of the Zhou Dynasty, particularly Western Zhou, the poems
of this collection are of uncertain dates. Some of the individual pieces of this material may be quite
older than other ones.
Verses of Chu (Chuci)
Chuci, also known as Songs of the South and as Ch'u Tz'u, refers to the poems and the style of those
poems which compose this collection. The name literally refers to the state of Chu, which was to the
south of the area from which the poems of the Classic of Poetry were collected, and south of the main
area populated by people of Chinese culture in China at the time of its composition and for many
centuries afterwards (in fact, until the great population change in the time of the Song Dynasty, or,
perhaps more accurately, the time of the Tang-Song transition).
Fu
Fu is one of the traditional main categories of Classical Chinese poetry, or literature; however, it is
traditionally not generally considered not to be a pure form of poetry (having been usually classified
as wen rather than shihowever the Chinese terms do not really correspond with the English terms
"literature" and "poetry").
Formal elements of fu
Definition of fu
Certain elements of a fu are definitional, or obligatory. In order for a piece of literature to be
considered to be a fucertain, basic criteria must be met.
Multisectionality for fu is obligatory. The sections may be differentially marked in 3 various ways:
change in meter, change in rhyme, and change in supernumerary phrase usage
Conventions of the fu include that each particular fu focus on one particular theme or subject. And,
that this theme or subject be treated in exhaustive detail.
Vocabulary
A typical feature of the fu form is the repetitive use of certain nonce syllables or "empty words" in fixed
positions within the lines. For example, the fu form often but not necessarily includes the use of the
exclamatory particle (pinyin: x; WadeGiles: hsi, Middle Chinese (Tang) hei, Old Chinese: *ge).
is an interjection generally used at the end of a line within a couplet, or as a mid-line break within one
line. Similarly characteristic of the fu is the use of certain other particular fixed position particles
(function, or "empty" words), often at or near the center of a line, and probably with an unstressed

pronunciation. Another characteristic of the fu form is the use of supernumerary initial words or
phrases, and or the use paired particles.
Rhyme, meter, and stanzaic divisions
Generally, every other line in a particular fu rhyme; that is, fu tend to use rhymed couplets. The
complex metering is determined by line-length, caesura, and the use of certain specific particles, in
fixed positions. The line-lengths within a particular fu tend to vary, yet remain consistent within each
discrete section, so that the lines within each section usually are of equal length to each other. The
use of a luan in the form of an appended lyrical coda, is "not uncommon".
Generic features of fu
As a genre, fu tend to express certain themes or topics.
Topics and themes of fu
Fu can be on various topics and themes, although each individual piece is strictly limited in its explicit
focus.
Poetic indirection
The use of poetic indirection is a key feature of fu. That is the poet may hint at a certain point by
subtly and discretely including a comment hinting towards something or by deliberately avoiding
saying what the reader would otherwise expect to appear within the highly structured context of the
piece.
Protest
Despite the surface appearance of fu as unrestrained enthusiasm for some particular object or event
upon which the author gets carried away in a rhapsody of words, in actuality the fu genre traditionally
dealt with sociopolitical protest,

History of fu
The fu form is associated with the influence of Chu literature, as anthologized in the Chuci and it had
a great flourishing during the beginning of the Han dynasty(founded 206 BCE).
Examples of fu
Many examples of fu exist, some number of which have been translated into French, English, and
other languages.
Fu people
Various persons are prominent in the area of fu literature, including original authors, anthologists,
critics, and translators.

Han dynasty
Han dynasty authors of fu include Jia Yi, Zhang Heng, Ban Gu, Yang Xiong, Yang Xiong, Wang
Can (177217),and Sima Xiangru. Consort Ban is also credited with authoring several Han fu. Also:
Mi Heng (173198).
Jian'an
Wang Can (177217) was a late-Han/early Jian'an fu author.
Six Dynasties
During the Six dynasties era Zhou, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasty). Guo
Pu wrote fu during the Eastern Jin dynasty. In the field of criticism and fu authorship, Lu Ji's's Wen
fu is an important work, which was later rendered into English by Achilles Fang. The Wen
Xuan anthologized by Xiao Tong (501-531) is an important source work for surviving fu, including fu
which he attributes to Song Yu.
Tang dynasty
During the Tang dynasty fu revival, the fu form was used by Li Bai, among others.
Old Style Poetry (Gushi)
Main article: Gushi (poetry)
Gushi is the style based upon older forms of shi, but allowing new additions to the corpus (unlike the
fixed corpus of the "classic shi" of the Shijing). One type of poetry imitative of "old" poetic forms is the
Literary Yuefu
The gushi form begins with the Nineteen Old Poems.
Nineteen Poems
The Nineteen Old Poems, sometimes shortened to Nineteen Poems, and also known in English
transliteration as Ku-shih shih-chiu shih, refers both to a specific collection of poems as well as to the
style in which those poems were composed.
Yuefu
Yuefu were a development of the forms of poetic literature collected by or edited by the Han
Dynasty Music Bureau. In later dynasties the term yuefu ("Music Bureau") was used to identify these
officially propagated ballad-style poems, as well as being used as a descriptor for poems in
the yuefu style, as it came to be elaborated by following poets.
Old Music Bureau Lyrics (old yuefu)
This is the style of the official Han Dynasty Music Bureau, which once existed.

New yuefu
This is the style, consisting of several subdivisions, of those poems based upon the poems and the
style of the poems of the former Han Dynasty Music Bureau, after it had ceased to exist.
New pattern poems (jintishi)
Regulated verse, or jintish includes three subforms. Although, to a quick glance not necessarily all
that different from regular line length yuefu in terms of line length in characters per line, or numbers of
lines, there are internally a whole "new" (at the time of their introduction, in the Tang dynasty) set of
rules or regulations, for example regarding tonal patterns, parallelism, repetition of characters.
Eight-line Regulated Verse (lushi)
Lushi refers to the regulated, or strict formal rules, of this poetry form. It is most associated with the
eight-line style, although the same rules basically apply to the curtailed form (jueju) and the expanded
form (pailu).

Five-character eight-line regulated verse (wulu)

A form of regulated verse with eight lines of five characters each.

Six-character eight-line regulated verse is relatively rare.

Seven-character eight-line regulated verse (qilu)

A form of regulated verse with eight lines of seven characters each.

Curtailed form (jueju)
The curtailed form is sometimes referred to as a quatrain due to its requirement to consist of four
lines. Basically, the jueju is a shortened version of the eight-line version, resulting in a verse form
which can more challenging in terms of conveying a complete poem or developing a complete poetic
concept; this is, indeed, especially the case with the five-character line version.

Five-character four-line curtailed verse (wujue)

Also known as the Five-character-quatrain, this form of regulated verse is characterized by four lines
of five characters each.

Seven-character four-line curtailed verse (qijue)

Also known as the Seven-character-quatrain, this is a form of regulated verse with four lines of
seven characters each.
Expanded form (pailu
While embracing all, or most of, the lushi rules and regulations the pailu allows for a number of linked
couplets with no maximum upward limit. A strict emphasis on formal parallelism is typical of
the pailu form.

Fixed tone-pattern poetry

Poems based on traditional structures, originally meant as lyrics to go along with particular musical
tunes or scoring, included in the fixed tone-pattern forms are the ci, qu, and yuanqu. Haha
Ci
Poems based on traditional structures, originally meant as lyrics to go along with music.
Qu and Yuanqu
Qu, similarly to Ci refers to a fixed tone-pattern form of poetry, however the tunes to which the qu are
based are different from the ci poems, and also there are some accompanying stylistic differences.
Yuanqu are fixed tone-pattern poems derived from Yuan dramas, or matching the arias of those
operas. .
References

Birrell, Anne (1988). Popular Songs and Ballads of Han China. (London: Unwin Hyman). ISBN
0-04-440037-3

Davis, A. R. (Albert Richard), Editor and Introduction,(1970), The Penguin Book of Chinese
Verse. (Baltimore: Penguin Books).

Frankel, Hans H. (1978). The Flowering Plum and the Palace Lady. (New Haven and London:
Yale University Press) ISBN 0-300-02242-5

Norman, Jerry (1991). Chinese. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). ISBN 0-52129653-6

Stimson, Hugh M. (1976). Fifty-five T'ang Poems. Far Eastern Publications: Yale
University. ISBN 0-88710-026-0

Watson, Burton (1971). CHINESE LYRICISM: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth
Century. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-03464-4

Yip, Wai-lim (1997). Chinese Poetry: An Anthology of Major Modes and Genres . Durham and
London: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-1946-2

Examples of Classical Chinese poetry translation:

(from Chinese into English) - The Famous Tang
poet Li Bai

1 Thoughts on a Still Night

Bed before bright moon shine

Think be ground on frost
Raise head view bright moon
Lower head think home

My translation:

Before my bed, the moon is shining bright,

I think that it is frost upon the ground.
I raise my head and look at the bright
moon,
I lower my head and think of home.

Before my bed there shines the bright moon,

As if a frosting layer on the ground.
I raise my head and see the bright moon,
I lower my head and think of my home.

2. Seeing Off a Friend

Green hill across north wall

White water wind east city
This place one do parting
Lone tumbleweed ten thousand li journey
Drift clouds traveller thought
Set sun old friend feeling
Wave hand from this go
Neigh part horse call

Green hills above the northern wall,

White water winding east of the city.
On this spot our single act of parting,
The lonely tumbleweed journeys ten thousand li.
Drifting clouds echo the traveller's thoughts,
The setting sun reflects my old friend's feelings.
You wave your hand and set off from this place,
Your horse whinnies as it leaves.

My translation:

Green hills above the northern wall,

White water winding east of the city.
On this spot we parted with our single goodbye,
The lonely tumbleweed journeys ten thousand li.
The Drifting clouds echo the traveller's thoughts,
The setting sun reflects my old friend's feelings.
Wavering your hand and you set off,
Your horse whinnies as it leaves.

3. Long Yearning

Long yearning
In Chang'an
Web woof autumn call gold
well railing
Coalesce frost freezing
bamboo mat look cold
Lonely lamp not bright think
almost cut
Roll curtain gaze moon vain
long sigh
Beautiful person like flower
separate cloud end
Above be black night () high
heaven
Below be green water ()

Long yearning,
To be in Chang'an.
The grasshoppers weave their autumn song
by the golden railing of the well;
Frost coalesces on my bamboo mat, changing
its colour with cold.
My lonely lamp is not bright, Id like to end
these thoughts;
I roll back the hanging, gaze at the moon, and
long sigh in vain.
The beautiful person's like a flower beyond the
edge of the clouds.
Above is the black night of heaven's height;
Below is the green water billowing on.
The sky is long, the road is far, bitter flies my

billow
Heaven long road far spirit
fly bitter
Dream spirit not arrive pass
mountain difficult
Long yearning
Break heart

My Translation:

spirit;
The spirit I dream can't get through, the
mountain pass is hard.
Long yearning,
Breaks my heart.

Long yearning,
To be in Chang'an.
The grasshoppers weave their autumn song by the golden

railing of the well;

Frost coalesces on my bamboo mat, changing its colour
with cold.
My lonely lamp is so deem, Id like to end all these
thoughts;
I roll back the hanging, gaze at the moon, yet long sigh in
vain.
The beautiful person's like a flower beyond the edge of
the clouds.
Above is the black night of heaven's height;
Below is the green water billowing on.
The sky is long, the road is far, bitter flies my spirit;
The spirit I dream can't get through, the mountain pass is
hard.
Long yearning,
Breaks my heart.