Duilian
Encyclopedia
Chinese poetry
Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language, which includes various versions of Chinese language, including Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Yue Chinese, as well as many other historical and vernacular varieties of the Chinese language...
, a couplet is a pair of lines of poetry which adhere to certain rules (see below). Outside of poems, they are usually seen on the sides of doors leading to people's homes or as hanging scroll
Hanging scroll
A hanging scroll is one of the many traditional ways to display and exhibit Chinese painting and calligraphy. Displaying the art in such way was befitting for public appreciation and appraisal of the aesthetics of the scrolls in its entirety by the audience. The traditional craft involved in...
s in an interior. Although often called antithetical couplet (antithetical means the opposite of what is expected), they can better be described as a written form of counterpoint. The two lines have a one-to-one correspondence in their metrical length, and each pair of characters
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
must have certain corresponding properties. A couplet is ideally profound yet concise, using one character per word in the style of Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese...
. A special, widely-seen type of couplet is the spring couplet , used as a New Year's
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...
decoration that expresses happy and hopeful thoughts for the coming year.
Requirements
A couplet must adhere to the following rules:- Both lines must have the same number of Chinese characters.
- The lexical categoryLexical categoryIn grammar, a part of speech is a linguistic category of words , which is generally defined by the syntactic or morphological behaviour of the lexical item in question. Common linguistic categories include noun and verb, among others...
of each character must be the same as its corresponding character. - The tone patternTone patternTone patterns are common constraints in classical Chinese poetry.The four tones of Middle Chinese—level , rising , departing , and entering tones—are categorized into level tones and oblique tones. All level tones are level. All other tones are oblique...
of one line must be the inverse of the other. This generally means if one character is of the a level tone, its corresponding character in the other line must be of an oblique tone, and vice versa. - The last character of the first line should be of an oblique tone, which forces the last character of the second line to be of a level tone.
- The meaning of the two lines need to be related, with each pair of corresponding characters having related meanings too.
Example
Example of a couplet:-
- Tone patternTone patternTone patterns are common constraints in classical Chinese poetry.The four tones of Middle Chinese—level , rising , departing , and entering tones—are categorized into level tones and oblique tones. All level tones are level. All other tones are oblique...
: - PinyinPinyinPinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: shū shān yǒu lù qín wéi jìng - Translation: The mountain of books has one way and hard work serves as the path
- Tone pattern
-
- Tone pattern:
- Pinyin: xué hǎi wú yá kǔ zuò zhōu
- Translation: The sea of learning has no end and effort makes the boat
| |Top | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| knowledge | book | ||
| sea | mountain | ||
| don't have | have | ||
| border | way | ||
| painstaking | diligence | ||
| makes | becomes | ||
| boat | path |
History and Modern Usage
Originating during the Five Dynasties, and flourishing during the MingMing Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
and Qing dynasties
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
in particular, duilians have a history of more than a thousand years and remain an enduring aspect of Chinese culture.
Dueling couplets are a popular past time with Chinese speakers, a game of verbal and intellectual dexterity, wit and speed which shares some parallels with the dozens
The dozens
The Dozens is a game that has its origins in African American slavery. The game originates from the devaluing and bargaining off of deformed or defective slaves in auction houses. This element of the African American oral tradition in which two competitors, usually males, go head-to-head in a...
. A notable modern-day example occurs at the 7:24 point of the second segment of the satirical machinima
Machinima
Machinima is the use of real-time 3D computer graphics rendering engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation...
War of Internet Addiction
War of Internet Addiction
War of Internet Addiction is an anti-censorship machinima advocacy production on behalf of the mainland Chinese World of Warcraft community, aesthetically notable for being made entirely in in-universe style...
(or at 16:58 of the video's complete running time).