Recitation is a traditional method of reading poems, words and articles in China. As a unique and effective means to appreciate classical literary works, it is not only widely used by scholars in past dynasties, but also deeply loved by literary lovers today. There is no doubt that chanting is a valuable and still vital cultural heritage of our ancient oriental civilization.
The Chinese Dictionary explains "reciting" and says: "Read poetry rhythmically." In my opinion, this is a general explanation. Although there are similarities between "Yin" and "Recitation", there are differences after careful study.
There are two different situations of singing in the pre-Qin period:
The first is singing accompanied by musical instruments such as lyre and harp. This is the so-called "Qu He Le Ri Song" in Mao Chuan's "The Book of Songs with Peach in Wei Feng Garden".
The second kind is singing without harp, musical instruments and other instruments, which is the so-called apprentice song, which is also called chorus today. It is worth noting that Volume 5 of the Collection of Arts and Literature quotes Jin Shuzhe's Reading Fu: "Yuan Xian steals and forgets his basics, while Yan Hui is diligent and despises poverty." It can be seen that Yin is not a happy song, but a song. Shen Kuo also pointed out in Volume V of Meng Qian Bi Tan that ancient poems can be recited, and then they are composed into songs with the intonation of Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng and Yu, which are called metrical poems.
This also shows that the singing method of poetry is a kind of casual singing method that does not pay strict attention to harmony.