Chinese Sanqu poetry

Sanqu (Chinese: 散曲; pinyin: sǎnqǔ; Wade–Giles: San-ch’ü) refers to a fixed-rhythm form of Classical Chinese poetry, or "literary song". Specifically sanqu is a subtype of the qu formal type of poetry. Sanqu was a notable Chinese poetic form, possibly beginning in the Jin dynasty (1115–1234); but, especially associated with the Yuan (1271–1368), Ming (1368–1644), and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties. The tonal patterns modeled on tunes drawn from folk songs or other music.

The sanqu were literary lyrics directly related to the zaju arias: these were dramatic lyrics written to fixed musical modes, or metrical forms, and could contain several aria or lyric song segments in one suite. Sanqu, however, could be composed in single discrete sections. It is often said that the sanqu verses tend to reflect excess energies and resentments of contemporary disenfranchised Chinese literati, due to contemporary Jurchen and Mongol political domination. Often the poetry could be humorous as is the following anonymous lyric:

Wearing Ruined Boots

The seams have come unstitched,
All falling apart, the leather is ruined.
Money wasted several times fixing them.
I haven’t repaid
The money used to buy them.
I dare not swagger,
But only take half-steps;
Fearing stones like wolves’ teeth,
Stairs like turtles’ backs.
Climbing the lookout
I veer left and right.
I dare not use the shoe stretcher;
At best I can hang them out in the sun.

There were many forms of Sanqu during the Yuan Dynasty. These included a kind of opera (or acting and singing), dance accompaniment, and instrumental accompaniment. During feasts, actors would hold lotus flowers in their left hands and, holding their goblets in the right, would sing a song of the heavy rains hitting the lotus flowers.

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