Ci, also known as long and short sentences, is a type of ancient Chinese poetry. It began in the Liang Dynasty, formed in the Tang Dynasty and reached its peak in the Song Dynasty. According to the "Old Book of Tang", "Since Kaiyuan (the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty), singers have mixed songs from Hu Yili Lane." Due to the widespread spread of music, there were many talented musicians in the city at that time who made a living by singing. According to the needs of matching the lyrics and the rhythm of the music, some lyrics with varying lengths and short sentences were created or adapted. This is the earliest lyrics. It can also be seen from the Dunhuang music lyrics that the lyrics produced by the people are decades earlier than the lyrics written by the literati.
In the Tang Dynasty, most of the folk poetry reflected themes such as love and lovesickness, so it was not considered elegant in the eyes of literati. It is regarded as a poetic path. Only those who pay attention to absorbing the artistic advantages of folk songs, such as Bai Juyi, Liu Yuxi and others, can write some words, which have a simple and natural style and are filled with a strong flavor of life. Wen Tingyun and the "Huajian School" of the Five Dynasties, who are famous for their rich and elegant poetry, have a certain position in the history of Ci development. The lyrics written by empress Li of the Southern Tang Dynasty after he was captured opened up a new and profound artistic realm and gave a strong influence to later generations of poets.
In the Song Dynasty, through the major breakthroughs in creation by Liu Yong and Su Shi, Ci received great development in form and content. Although the language of Ci was influenced by the poetry of literati, the fashion of elegant carving did not replace its popular folk style. The long and short sentence forms of words are more convenient for expressing emotions, so the saying that "poems are blind to ambition, words express emotions" still has a certain basis.
Ci can generally be classified into graceful and bold styles. The style of the poems of the graceful school is elegant, melodious, and full of music; like Liu Yong's "Where can I wake up tonight? Willow bank, the morning wind wanes and the moon"; Yan Shu's "The flowers fall helplessly, and the swallows return as if they have known each other before"; Yan Jidao's Famous lines such as "Dancing low in the heart of the willow tower, singing to the wind under the peach blossom fan" are worthy of being a lyrical masterpiece that blends scenes with artistic merits. Bold lyrics began with Su Shi. He freed Ci from the world of entertainment and legacy and developed it into an independent lyrical art. Mountains and rivers, farmhouse scenery, leisurely travels and ambitions to serve the country have all become the themes of his poems, which moved his poems from flowers under the moon to the broad social life. Judging from the taste of our readers today, bold works like "The Great River Goes East" are more acceptable.
Words can be roughly divided into Xiaoling (within 58 characters), Zhongdiao (59 to 90 characters) and Longdiao (more than 91 characters, the longest word is 240 characters). Some of a word has only one paragraph, which is called monotone; some has two paragraphs, which is called double tone; some has three or four paragraphs, which is called triple or quadruple.
Words have word cards. The production of Cipai generally has the following situations: following the title of an ancient Yuefu poem or the name of a piece of music; such as "Six States Song Tou"; taking a few words from a celebrity's poem, such as "Xijiang Moon"; based on a certain historical figure or allusion , such as "Niannujiao"; there are also self-made lyrics by famous writers. As the lyrics developed, they gradually separated from music and became an independent style of writing.