Xuan Liu

Xuan Liu

August 23, 2026

Canonization of Song Ci, Early Ming Ci practitioners, Standardized Ci composition.

Song Ci(宋词) gradually evolved into an authoritative creative template for post-Song literati, yet its original melodic frameworks and vocal performance traditions vanished over time. No unified, definitive standards governing cipai(词牌) metrical structures and rhyming conventions survived into the Ming Dynasty. Though early Ming creators held profound admiration for Song Ci masterpieces, they failed to replicate the genre’s authentic creative logic. Direct mechanical imitation prevailed across most Ming Ci writing: practitioners arbitrarily adjusted character counts within fixed cipaitemplates, adopted lax rhyming systems, and blurred stylistic boundaries between Ci and northern Qu(曲). Three interwoven historical factors lie at the root of such compositional chaos: the extinction of Ci’s accompanying musical heritage, major phonetic shifts separating Song and Ming vernacular speech, and inconsistent variant editions of transmitted Song Ci anthologies. Centering on Yang Shen’s poetic output as a core case, this paper dissects how mid-Ming literati reconstructed standardized, refined Ci aesthetics. Drawing artistic nourishment from Song canonical texts, these scholars clarified the stylistic divide between Ci and Qu, consolidated unified metrical regulations, refined delicate lyrical diction, and expanded the thematic spectrum accessible to Ci composition—points that form the core analysis of this research.

© 2026, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license