Yuefu
Yuefu is a Chinese poetic genre associated with songs collected or composed for performance. Literary poets later imitated its forms and themes.
Han dynasty: A Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 206 BCE to 220 CE, with a brief interruption. The Han court established the Music Bureau associated with collecting and producing early yuefu songs.
Chinese poetry: Poetry written in Chinese across the languages, forms, and literary traditions of China. Yuefu is one historical tradition within the wider field of Chinese poetry.
Song dynasty: A Chinese dynasty that ruled from 960 to 1279 and fostered major developments in literature and the arts. Song-era anthologists helped preserve and classify earlier yuefu poetry.
Peacock Flies Southeast: A long narrative poem traditionally included among the Han yuefu, recounting a tragic marriage and its aftermath. Its extended narrative displays the genre’s capacity for dramatic storytelling.
Music Bureau: An imperial Han institution that managed court music and collected songs. Its song collection and performance activities shaped the genre’s early identity.
Classical Chinese: The written language used in much of premodern Chinese literature and scholarship. The surviving literary yuefu corpus is largely transmitted in classical written Chinese.
Yuefu shiji: A Song-dynasty anthology of yuefu songs compiled by Guo Maoqian. Its extensive compilation became a principal source for texts and genre history.
The Ballad of Mulan: A Chinese narrative ballad about a woman who takes her father’s place in military service. This celebrated ballad exemplifies the narrative and performative associations of yuefu.
Han poetry: Poetry produced during China’s Han dynasty, including fu, court verse, and song traditions. Yuefu emerged within the varied poetic culture of the Han period.
Chinese prosody: The study of sound, rhythm, tonal pattern, and poetic form in Chinese verse. Yuefu’s line lengths and rhythms distinguish its songs from other verse forms.