Liang Zhangju, a scholar and writer of couplets in Qing Dynasty, divided couplets into ten categories: stories, responses, temple fairs, dreams, historical sites, aphorisms, anecdotes, poems, sets of sentences and miscellaneous affixes.
In modern times, Wu Gongheng's couplets can be divided into five categories: Taoism, celebration, mourning, banter and miscellaneous.
The Dictionary of China Couplets edited by Gu Pingdan, Chang Jiang and Zeng Baoquan (first edition 199 1, revised and reprinted in 2000) divides couplets into places of interest, inscriptions (aphorisms), celebrations, mourning, satire (artfulness), literature and art, and industries.
China couplets (first edition, 2000) edited by Gu Xiangyang are classified according to different standards (1): Spring Festival couplets, industry couplets, wedding couplets, birthday couplets, elegiac couplets, victory couplets, bedroom couplets, title couplets, humorous couplets and miscellaneous couplets; (2) According to the content: writing scenes, narrating history, expressing feelings, philosophizing, satirizing and joking; (3) According to the joint length: short joint, medium joint and long joint; (4) According to creative methods: creative alliance, reorganization alliance, solicitation alliance, recruitment alliance, etc.
In order to facilitate practical use, the book has been moderately simplified. According to the above classification, it can be divided into nine categories: festive couplets, festive couplets, elegiac couplets, industry couplets, scenic couplets, house couplets, topic couplets, humorous couplets and miscellaneous couplets.