This book provides a survey of Yuan sanqu, with its principal sections focusing on fundamental theories, compositional features, and historical evolution. Its treatment of qu criticism and bibliography offers a comprehensive perspective on the defining characteristics of sanqu. Serving both as a general overview of sanqu and a foundation for future research, this publication explores this unique yet historically marginalized genre of song-poetry. It generates new insights through textual analysis and the nuanced discussion of dualistic concepts, such as the interplay between literature and music, the Song and Yuan dynasties, and the relationship between ci-lyrics and song-poetry.
Sanqu Studies in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: a Foreword
Translators Acknowledgement
Introduction
1 The Formation of Northern Qu-Genre
1.1The Notion of Formation of Northern Qu during Late Imperial China
1.2The Formation of Song-Music of Northern Qu
1.3The Formation of Literary Style of Northern Qu
1.4The Critical Turn of Ci-Lyrics to Qu and Customisation of Northern Qu
System
2 The Tune Patterns and Musical Modes of Northern Qu
2.1The Musical Modes
2.2The Tune Patterns
3 The Generic Forms of Yuan Song-Poetry (Sanqu)
3.1The Historical Evolution of the Title Names of Yuan Sanqu
3.2The Single-Stanza Songs (Xiaoling)
3.3The Binary Form Songs (Daiguoqu)
3.4The Song Suite Songs (Taoshu)
3.5The Song Suites in Northern and Southern Joint Style
4 The Stylistic Features of Yuan Sanqu
4.1The Padding Words of Yuan Sanqu
4.2The Language of Yuan Sanqu
4.3The Rhymes of Yuan Sanqu
4.4The Antithesis and Reiteration of Yuan Sanqu
4.5Bravo (Wutou)
5 Yuan Sanqu and Yuan Zaju
5.1The Chronological Sequence of Sanqu and Juqu
5.2The Influence of Sanqu on Northern Zaju
5.3The Influence of Zaju on Sanqu
6 The Details on Yuan Sanqu Writers and Their Communal Features
6.1The Officials
6.2The Non-officialdom Talented Scholars
6.3The Non-Han Ethnic-Minority Writers
6.4The Singsong Girls
7 The Evolving Stage of Yuan Sanqu
7.1The Status of Qu Communities and Compositional Characteristics of Sanqu
7.2The Composition of Representative Qu Writers in the Evolving Stage
8 The Flourishing Stage of Yuan Sanqu
8.1The Overview of Sanqu Composition in the Flourishing Stage
8.2Three Masters
8.3The Other Representative Qu-Writers
9 The Peaking Stage of Yuan Sanqu
9.1The Overview of Composition of Sanqu and Styles of Schools
9.2The Representative Qu-Writers of the Heroic Haofang School
9.3The Other Qu-Writers of the Heroic Haofang School
9.4The Representative Qu-Writers of the Elegant Qingli School
9.5The Other Qu-Writers of the Elegant Qingli School
10 The Declining Stage of Yuan Sanqu
10.1The Outline of Composition of Sanqu
10.2The Representative Qu-Writers
11 Qu Criticism in Yuan China
11.1On Aria-Singing
11.2On Song-Composing
11.3On Origins
11.4On Styles
12 Bibliography of Studies on Yuan Sanqu
12.1The Corpus of Song-Poetry
12.2The Criticism of Song-Poetry
12.3Formularies of Qu
Reference Matter
Index
Zhao Yishan, Ph.D. (2004), Sichuan University, is an emeritus professor of Chinese literature at Sichuan Normal University. He has published monographs and articles on traditional Chinese qu studies and song-poetry (sanqu) of late imperial China, including A General Survey of Song-Poetry of Yuan China (Bashu, 1993; rev. Shanghai guji, 2004/2023), A History of Song-Poetry of Ming-Qing China (Renmin, 2007).
Zhou Rui, Ph.D. (2007), Sichuan University, is an associate professor of Chinese literature and a Sinological translator at Southwest University, China. He has published monographs and many articles on pre-modern Chinese literature and Sinological studies, his translated works including Tian Yuan Tans Songs of Contentment and Transgression (2021), Grace S. Fong's Herself an Author (2024), Song Geng's The Fragile Scholar (2024), and Yugen Wang's Writing Poetry, Surviving War (2024).
