Introduce Tang poetry and Song poetry in English, and then introduce the story of Liang Zhu.

Because many dynasties in the history of China had successful periods representing the thoughts and life of that era, the Tang Dynasty was recognized as the golden age of poetry. From the founder of the dynasty to the last ruler, almost every emperor is a lover and patron of poetry, and many of them are poets themselves. Special praise should be given to the Empress of the Wu Dynasty or the "Empress" (684-704). Through her influence, poetry became a compulsory subject in the degree examination and an important course leading to the promotion of officials. This makes every official and every scholar a poet. Poetry required in the examination, after a long period of gradual development, followed a formula and established many regulations. Not only must the length of a line be limited to a certain number of characters, usually five or seven, but the length of a poem must also be limited to a certain number of lines, usually four or eight or twelve. Maintaining rhyme, parallelism of characters, and balance of tones are other rules that are considered to be crucial. This is called "modern" or "dominant" poetry. In Qing Dynasty or Qing Dynasty, the examination poems were standardized as 16 lines of five-character poems, with every other line rhyming. This "eight rhymes" poem is accompanied by the famous "eight-part essay" (a literary form divided into eight parts) as a guiding light to enter the life of Putonghua.

The above-mentioned poetry rules only apply to exam poems at first. But later, they became the common practice of "modern" or "ruling" poetry. Since the Tang Dynasty, China's poems have actually followed only two forms, namely, the modern or regular form and the ancient or irregular form. Poets usually write both. However, "Eight Rhymes" poems are only used for official examinations.

The most famous writers are Bai, Du Fu, Du Mu, Meng Haoran, Wang Wei, Bai Juyi, Li Shangyin, Yuan Zhen and so on. Thousands of Tang poems were collected in The History of the Whole Tang Dynasty in Qing Dynasty, and a new poetic style appeared in the second half of the Tang Dynasty. A poem should fill the traditional melody pattern with new words. . This kind of word is more complicated than the old poetic style and reached maturity in the Song Dynasty. The most important representative figure of Tang Ci is Yu (937-975), Emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

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Lyrics of Song Dynasty (Song Ci)

The lyricism of words is quite different from that of poems. Today, $ TERM ci only means "word" The words in "Tang Dynamic Poetry" can be read without looking for the melody behind it. Even if there are some melodies, the words must be regarded as written songs. Most poems do not have their own titles, but they are named after an original melody. Composers and writers write a new poem with this melody, which can be sung with the original famous melody or tune (epigraph). This technique is called contrast. That's why we often see the same title as a cipoem, such as butterfly loves flowers, Fang Fang is full of fragrance, or Yu Meiren is Yu Meiren. There are more than 800 tuning modes. In the Tang Dynasty, with the popularity of foreign music imported from Central Asia, Cyrillic music came into being.

In Song Dynasty, two different ci styles were formed: Fang Hao's "bold and unconstrained" and Wan Yue's "graceful and restrained". Just as the lyre was still used in the Song Dynasty (see the example of Lu You's poems), ci became very popular again in the Qing Dynasty. Even Mao Zedong, President of communist party, is considered a great poet.

The Hundred Poems of Song San (300 Poems of Three Bai Shous in Song Dynasty) was compiled by villagers in Shangjiang of Jiangcun Ci Society under the guidance of Zhu Zumou (1859- 193 1). Zhu zumou. In addition to the following examples, there are some famous Song poems. Yucheng (954- 1 10 1), Liu Yong (980- 1053), Yan Shu (991-kloc-0/055), Mei Yao Yao Chen (. Kloc-0/- 1086), Huang Tingjian (1045- 1 105), Qin Guan (1049-6544). Zhao, Chao (1053-110), (1053- 165438), Ye Mengde, Ye Mengde (1077 Li Qingzhao (1084- 1 155), Yang Wanli (1 127- 1206), Wanli (1/kloc-) Jiang Kui (1155-1221), Shi Dazu (11220), Liu Kezhuang. Zhou (1232- 1298), Wang Wang (1240- 1290), zhangyan, zhangyan (1248- 1320). Of course, every official who works as an author belongs to the basic knowledge of the upper class.

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Butterfly lovers: The Story of Romeo and Juliet in China (butterfly lovers-one of the four great folklores in China).

Ya-Zhu Yingtai, the only daughter of a wealthy family, was desperate to stay inside the walls of the family compound until she got married, and left to live behind a new set of walls. She is more educated than most girls. She persuaded her father to allow her to pretend to be a man and go to Hangzhou to study with Master Zhou. On the way, she met Liang Shanbo. They became friends and became sworn brothers. It was difficult for Yingtai to hide her gender from him, especially after she fell in love with him. Nevertheless, she kept a disguise until she was called home and entrusted Mrs. Zhou to reveal her secret after she left. When Shanbo learned the truth, of course he wanted to marry her, but her parents had found her a groom. Based on a China folk story, this story has all the elements of a great tragic love, including misunderstanding, withholding information, nosy servants, jealous opponents, tears, physical and mental illness-last but not least, an unfortunate couple becomes a pair of butterflies. Yingtai is an old and clever heroine who never gives up the pursuit of her own desires. Shan Bo can be stupid sometimes, but he is a romantic hero, although he is never as determined and brave as Yingtai. He loves her to death, which is the most important thing in this kind of story.

(Susan Salpini, purcell, Virginia Library)