On the Rhyme of Metric Poetry: Is it better to use the new rhyme or the old rhyme?

Rhyme is an unavoidable problem in the writing of metrical poems. But whether to use new rhyme or old rhyme has never been a definite standard. To tell the truth, my attitude towards this issue has always been mild, that is, I try to use the old rhyme as much as possible, but when there is a difference between the old rhyme and the new rhyme, I avoid this word and use another word with the same reader in modern Mandarin. To put it bluntly, I chose the old rhyme of ancient and modern homophones.

In fact, the advantages of new rhyme are obvious. It can be said that The New Rhyme of China published by the Chinese Poetry Society in May 2005 is the authoritative basis for the writing of modern metrical poems. Based on the pronunciation of modern Mandarin Chinese, the new rhyme divides 35 vowels of Chinese Pinyin into 14 parts, and all rhyming words are contained in this 14 part.

Because there are fewer rhymes in New Rhyme, each rhyme contains more rhyming words, and the range of rhyming words available for the author is relatively wide, and the author is less restricted, so it becomes the first choice for beginners to write metrical poems.

But now the horizontal rhyme in the ancient rhyme used in metrical poetry writing is much more complicated. For example, it is difficult to write down all the rhymes of 106, and even experienced people can only use them like looking them up in a dictionary. ..... If you want to use these rhyming words to construct a wonderful metrical poem, it is obviously not difficult.

In addition, because the ancient rhyme is based on the pronunciation of the ancients, with the changes of the times, the ancient and modern pronunciation of some Chinese characters has also changed. If the metrical poems written according to the ancient rhyme are difficult to read in modern Mandarin, they may even be mistaken by modern people for not rhyming.

In the final analysis, although I insist on using the old rhyme with the same sound in ancient and modern times in the writing of metrical poems, I still think that it is best for modern people to choose new rhyme in writing metrical poems, which is also advocated by the Chinese Poetry Society. Some poets often worry that they can't use ancient rhymes, but it's unnecessary. It can be said that there is no difference between new rhyme and old rhyme. From the perspective of development, the new rhyme is superior to the old rhyme. Some poets disdain the use of new rhymes, which is the freedom of writing, but they are self-righteous and even look down on new rhymes, which is very wrong. Of course, it would be better if you know both the old and new rhymes and the old and new sounds, but this is by no means a proud capital, just an introduction to metrical poetry writing.

The above is taken from the original? Zhuang Tushan people for reference.