, Cave 76, detail, 7th century,
Kucha, depicting a type of musician influential to development of poet (among other things), from a much later time (1921) Although the oldest surviving textual examples of are from 8th century CE
Dunhuang manuscripts, beginning in the
poetry of the
Liang dynasty, the followed the tradition of the and the : they were lyrics which developed from anonymous popular songs into a sophisticated literary genre. In the case of the form, some of its fixed-rhythm patterns have been influenced by music and poetry of
Central Asia and elsewhere. The form developed during the late
Tang dynasty. Although the contributions of
Li Bai (701–762) are fraught with historical doubt, certainly the Tang poet
Wen Tingyun (812–870) was a great master of the , writing it in its distinct and mature form. One of the more notable practitioners and developers of this form was
Li Yu of the
Southern Tang dynasty, during the
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, subsequent to Tang. Before the form was formalized by the scholarly, it's antecedents had grown up in a setting of popular music. Serindian influences were particularly important in this regard; with the influence of Kucha drum dance tunes being the most important. Much of the process of importing Serindian influence into Classical Chinese poetry was mediated through the short-lived state of
Western Liang (555–587). Western Liang was basically a city-state centered on the city known in Tang times as Liangzhou. In Western Liang a musical hybrid of Chinese and Kuchean traditions developed, and became popularized throughout the Tang culture, from the people to even the emperor
Xuanzong (reigned 713–756). This was part of a larger movement: "...of all the specialists of ambiguous social status who were sent to China by a foreign government, the most popular and influential were the musicians―instrumentalists, singers, and dancers―and the instruments and musical modes that they brought with them....For many centuries, the music of the West had had its admirers in China, but under the
Sui emperors there was a great vogue for it, which continued into T'ang times." Foreign music (in terms of performers, instruments, musical modes, and songs) was brought to China, often as a result of wars of conquest or as a type of "tribute" and this music found a place in informal settings at the imperial court to other less reputable settings.
Ci poetry largely developed during the late Tang from the music made in popular settings such as houses of pleasure and from the inclusion of romantic and erotic themes of late Tang poets such as
Li Shangyin. However, the form of Classical Chinese poetry is especially associated with the
poetry of the Song dynasty, during which it was indeed a popular poetic form. A revival of the poetry form occurred during the end of the
Ming dynasty and the beginning of the
Qing dynasty which was characterized by an exploration of the emotions connected with romantic love together with its secularization, often in a context of a brief poetic story narrative within a poem or a linked group of poems in an application of the form of short story tales to poetry. ==Classification==