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The yuefu 樂府, meaning "[songs of the] Music Bureau", is a poetic genre that was common during the Han period 漢 (206 BC-220 CE). In this specific sense, it is called Han yuefu 漢樂府. It introduced a new form—namely, five-syllable verses—and new content at both a social and often very personal level into Chinese poetry. The yuefu was so popular that Han-period yuefu were imitated by later poets until the mid-Tang period 唐 (618-907). The term Han yuefu often includes ancient, anonymous songs (gushi 古詩) from the Han period, which are, in terms of origin and content, not actually yuefu songs. Examples of these songs can be found in the collection Gushi shijiu shou 古詩十九首.
The Music Bureau was a central government institution during the Han period, responsible for collecting and managing music for various court occasions, including sacrifices, inspection tours, court ceremonies, banquets, and archery contests. It was established during Emperor Wu's 漢武帝 reign (r. 141-87 BCE), probably as early as under Emperor Hui 漢惠帝 (r. 195-188 BC), with the appointment of a Grand Director of Music (taiyueling 太樂令). In the early decades of the Han dynasty, the court utilised melodies and chants from the Qin dynasty 秦 (221-206 BC), as well as songs from the ancient regional state of Chu 楚 in southern China. Emperor Wu, in the process of reforming and standardising the state administration, founded the Music Bureau, which defined 19 chant types for state offerings (Han jiaosi ge shijiu zhang 漢郊祀歌十九章). These were approved by members of the Confucian department of the National University (taixue 太學). Li Yannian 李延年 (late 2nd cent. CE), his sister Lady Li 李夫人, her dance troupe, and the writer Sima Xiangru 司馬相如 (179-117 BCE) refined the text and melodies. This new type of song (xinsheng qu 新聲曲) emphasised state offerings, the service of the dynasty to Heaven and Earth, and the invocation of felicity and good omens, placing less focus on venerating imperial ancestors. Emperor Wu thus reformed the ancient odes and hymns used at the royal courts during the Western Zhou 西周 (11th cent.-770 BCE) and Warring States 戰國 (5th cent.-221 BCE) periods.
The importance of music performance was so great that, by the end of the Former Han period 前漢 (206 BCE-8 CE), the court employed nearly a thousand female dancers for various events. While the Director of Music focused on sacrificial court music, the Music Bureau was responsible for managing other types of music. Sacrificial music was highly refined and composed in an antique style, called "elegant music" (yayue 雅樂). In contrast, people preferred a more lively and familiar style for other occasions, known as suqu xinsheng 俗曲新聲. Emperor Ai 漢哀帝 (r. 7-1 BCE) therefore suspended the work of the Music Bureau.
At the start of the Later Han period 後漢 (25-220 CE), the Confucian school was less influential because it had divided into several competing branches. As a result, it lost its influence over court-sponsored music. Five-syllable poems (wuyan shi 五言詩) had gained favour over the older four-syllable verses (siyan shi 四言詩). The organisation of court music was restructured. Offerings and official banquets were organised by the Grand Director, who reported to the Chamberlain for Ceremonials (taichang qing 太常卿; see Nine Courts). All other musical events were managed by the Director of Palace Entertainments (chenghualing 承華令), who was subordinate to the Chamberlain for Palace Revenues (shaofu 少府). The Bureau was also entrusted with actively collecting songs from the populace. This decision was not driven by benevolence towards the people but was related to the popularity of the apocryphal interpretations of the Confucian Classics. This branch of Confucianism anticipated portents and omens appearing throughout the country and also in the voices of the people. Their songs, therefore, could contribute to better governance.
At the end of the Former Han period, the Music Bureau had collected 314 songs from all over the country, of which only 55 were genuine folk songs rather than court hymns for sacrifices. During the Later Han period, local officials also sponsored the composition and collection of yuefu songs. Two traditions of yuefu had thus developed: one comprising songs collected by the court and officially recorded in imperial catalogues. A list can be found in the treatise on music in the official dynastic history Songshu 宋書 (19-22 Yue zhi 樂志). The other songs circulated among the population or local gentry and were only occasionally documented, resulting in these songs dispersing across various writings. The earliest collections appeared in the 6th century, notably the Yutai xinyong 玉臺新詠. The first comprehensive collection of Han yuefu is the Yuefu shiji 樂府詩集 from the Song period 宋 (960-1279). This collection also marks the first effort to categorise yuefu songs based on usage, content, and musical modes. Jiaomiao ge 郊廟歌, Guchui qu 鼓吹曲, and Wuqu 舞曲 were court songs, though the Guchui type also includes songs from the populace, which are otherwise classified as Xianghe qu 相和曲 and Zaqu 雜曲. Court songs can be compared to the old hymns (song 頌) of the Shijing 詩經, while popular songs align with the feng 風 category in this Confucian classic. The popular song is called geyao 歌謠 and is often encompassed under the term yuefu. Both the court compositions and popular songs were anonymous during the Han period. Only a few authors of Han yuefu are known, such as Xin Yannian 辛延年 (the song Yulin lang 羽林郎), Song Zihou 宋子侯 (Dong Jiaorao 董嬌嬈), and Li Yannian (Beifang you jiaren 北方有佳人).
Along with the yuefu songs from the Later Han period, more than 100 Han-period yuefu still survive. They can be found in various texts, including the treatises on music in the official dynastic histories Hanshu 漢書 and Houhanshu 後漢書, as well as in the literary anthologies Wenxuan 文選 and Yutai xinyong. The entire collection of yuefu songs, from the Han period to the Tang, has been compiled in the Song-period collection Yuefu shiji.
Han-period yuefu songs chiefly consist of pieces with profound emotional content, depicting the suffering of people from all social backgrounds. Some of these songs even include direct critiques of the social conditions under which people lived during that era. Themes commonly found in Han yuefu poems include soldiers, husbands and wives, orphans, widows, retainers of betrayed nobles, and girls forced into marriage. Notable examples include the famous songs Dongmen xing 東門行 "The eastern gate", Gu'er xing 孤兒行 "The orphan", Fubing xing 婦病行 "A wife was sick", Zhan cheng nan 戰城南 "Battling south of the ramparts", Shiwu congjun zheng 十五從軍征 "At fifteen I went to war", Yinma changcheng ku xing 飲馬長城窟行 "Watering horses at the breech on the Great Wall", Shanshang cai miwu 上山采蘼蕪 "Plucking orchids on the mountain", Yuan ge xing 怨歌行 "A song of sorrow", You suo si 有所思 "Someone I think of", and Shang xie 上邪 "Heaven, alas!" The song Mo shang sang 陌上桑 "Mulberry trees on the waterside" portrays a noble wife rejecting the advances of another nobleman. The ballad Kongque dongnan fei 孔雀東南飛 "Phoenix flies to the southeast" recounts the tragic love story of Liu Lanzhi 劉蘭芝 and Jiao Zhongqing 焦仲卿, who are both compelled to marry others.
Some yuefu poems like Mingji 雞鳴, Xiangfeng xing 相逢行 or Chang'an you xia xie xing 長安有狹斜行 depict the fight for power among rival families and the extravagance of their lives, contrasting with the simple life of peasants and the lower gentry. The poems Huainan minge 淮南民歌 and Wei Huanghou ge 衛皇后歌 are direct critiques of the imperial house. Laoshi ge 牢石歌 describes the intrigues of court cliques, and Wuhou ge 五侯歌 highlights the extravagance of the higher nobility. These poems remain part of the tradition of many feng-type songs of the Shijing.
Morally correct behaviour of women is the theme of the poems Mo shang sang, Yulin lang, Longxi xing 隴西行, and Shang shan cai miwu. In many situations, a woman laments separation from her husband or his infidelity, as seen in Quche shang dongmen xing 驅車上東門行, Ranran gu sheng zhu 冉冉孤生竹, Qingqing ling shang bo 青青陵上柏, Gu ge 古歌, Yinma changcheng xing, Yan ge xing, or Gao tian zhong xiao mai 高田種小麥. General worldly wisdom is explored in Chang ge xing 長歌行, Meng hu xing 猛虎行, and Ku yu guo he qi 枯魚過河泣. However, not all songs convey a sad and desperate mood. Some yuefu songs celebrate competent officials and ideal conditions, such as Yanmen taishou xing 雁門太守行, Jiangnan 江南, or Cheng zhong yao 城中謠.
Some features of the yuefu are quite similar to the feng-style poems in the Shijing, such as the anacrusis of a poem (xing 興) in the form of a picture from nature, like reeds, trees on a hill, or grass on the banks of a river, followed by an immediate shift to the personal feelings of the lyrical speaker. While the Shijing songs have a kind of refrain and the stanzas are highly repetitive, yuefu songs tend to be more narrative and connected to a specific personal situation. They are less general – and therefore more open to a Confucian interpretation as broad descriptions of conduct – but often include very concrete depictions of personal experience, some resembling factual incidents. Allegorical images from nature, such as birds or trees, frequently serve as stylistic devices. Dialogues are also often involved. The individuals depicted in the yuefu are powerful personalities, especially women, like Qin Luofu 秦羅敷, who defies the immoral proposals of another nobleman (or, jokingly, her own husband?), Miss Hu 胡姬, who criticises the retainers of the Huo 霍 family, or the poor Dong Jiaorao 董嬌嬈.
Some scholars have attempted to connect the narrative descriptions in the Han yuefu songs with historical events, but with limited success. Many popular yuefu songs can be seen as critiques of the social and economic circumstances of the Later Han period, a viewpoint supported by the lower gentry who lacked access to court decisions and suffered from the chaotic aftermath of the court's waning influence. Some songs have a military background, such as Han naoge shiba qu 漢鐃歌十八曲.
The terms qu 曲 "air", ci 辭 "words", and sheng 聲 "sounds" in the title of yuefu songs are not easily distinguishable; it may even be that during that period there was no clear consensus on what these terms precisely denoted.
During the Later Han period, writers began composing yuefu songs independently. This type of song does not originate from court music, nor is it a "folk song." Songs by Mei Sheng 枚乘 (died 140 BCE), Yang Xiong 揚雄 (53 BCE-18 CE), or Sima Xiangru are considered high-class literature. They simply imitate the style and mood of yuefu songs.
Most yuefu poems are composed in five-syllable lines and occasionally in seven-syllable or irregular lines. The sentence structures are vivid and free, and the language is natural and fluent, with a standard and easy-to-understand vocabulary. Compared to the hymns and songs of earlier times, yuefu songs are much more written in a natural and popular language. They marked an essential step in advancing Chinese poetry in both form and content, opening a very different literary genre. Poets of later eras appreciated the natural style of yuefu poems and often imitated it, contrasting it with the highly formal and "modern" regular poems (lüshi 律詩) that emerged during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period 南北朝 (300~600) and flourished during the Tang. The yuefu was closely linked to specific content and also served as a medium for social critique in later periods. During the Tang, yuefu experienced a revival under Bai Juyi 白居易 (722-846), Yuan Zhen 元稹 (779-831), and Li Shen 李紳 (772-846), known as the "new yuefu" (xin yuefu 新樂府). This style of poetry persisted even among late Tang writers like Nie Yizhong 聶夷中 (837-884), Du Xunhe 杜荀鶴 (846-904), and Pi Rixiu 皮日休 (c. 838-c. 883).
All surviving Han-period yuefu songs are collected in the works Yuefu shiji by the Song scholar Guo Maoqian 郭茂倩 (1041-1099), Gu yuefu 古樂府 by the Yuan-period 元 (1279-1368) scholar Zuo Keming 左克明 (mid-14th cent.), Gushiji 古詩紀 by the Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) scholar Feng Weine 馮惟訥 (1513-1572), and Guyueyuan 古樂苑 by Mei Dingzuo 梅鼎祚 (1549-1615). Finally, all songs have been included in Lu Qinli's 逯欽立 (1910-1973) collection Xianqin-Han-Wei-Jin-Nanbeichao shi 先秦漢魏晉南北朝詩.
The genre of yuefu remained very popular in southern China during the rule of the so-called Southern Dynasties 南朝 (420–589). Nearly 500 yuefu poems from that period have survived, most of them for popular audiences, although professional poets and writers wrote some. The Southern yuefu poems of that era are mainly included in the category Qingshang quci 清商曲辭 within the collection Yuefu shiji. A few are found among miscellaneous yuefu songs, such as Xizhou qu 西洲曲, Dong fei bo lao ge 東飛伯勞歌, or Su Xiaoxiao ge 蘇小小歌. Within the Qingshang category, the Southern Dynasties yuefu belong both to the songs from Wu 吳 (the region of modern Jiangsu and Zhejiang) and the "songs from the West" (modern Hubei). The most famous songs from Wu are Ziye ge 子夜歌 "The song of Ziye", Ziye sishi ge 子夜四時歌 "Ziye's songs about the seasons", Huashan ji 華山畿 "The fields from Mt. Hua" and Du qu ge 讀曲歌.
Writing "songs from among the people" was so popular that it is often unclear whether a song was composed by a court poet or is an anonymous folk song from the countryside. The invention of Bi yu ge 碧玉歌 songs, for example, is attributed to the Prince of Runan 汝南王, but they might actually be of unknown origin. Other Bi yu ge songs are attributed to Sun Chuo 孫綽 (314-371) or Emperor Wu 梁武帝 (r. 502-549) of the Liang dynasty 梁 (502-557), who was a renowned poet. Many famous poets also wrote yuefu songs, including Xie Lingyun 謝靈運 (385-433), Bao Zhao 鮑照 (c. 414-466), Shen Yue 沈約 (441-513), Jiang Yan 江淹 (444-505), Xie Tiao 謝朓 (464-499), Wang Rong 王融 (467-493), Wu Jun 吳均 (469-520) and Jiang Zong 江總 (519-594).
The themes of Southern-Dynasties yuefu songs continue the tradition of Han yuefu, many featuring love themes, mainly women or girls longing for their distant lovers. Unfortunate love is depicted in songs like Xiangyang yue 襄陽樂 or Aonong ge 懊儂歌. Among the Han yuefu, some very long songs can be classified as ballads. Similarly, lengthy texts are found among the "western songs" of the Southern yuefu, such as Xizhou qu.
A completely new theme in Southern yuefu songs focuses on deities or locally venerated spirits. Eighteen songs of this type have survived under the title of Shen xian ge 神弦歌. Some depict the temples and their surroundings. Others describe offerings or encounters with the deity. Baishi lang 白石郎 "Master White Stone" is a deity venerated near Nanjing, while Qingxi xiaogu 青溪小姑 "Mistress Green River" was a sister of general Jiang Ziwen 蔣子文 of the Three Empires period 三國 (220-280).
Many songs depict daily life in southern China during that period, such as raising mulberry trees and spinning silk in Cai sang du 采桑度, the travels of merchants in Aonong ge and Huang du 黃督, and market activities in Changgan qu 長干曲. While Han yuefu described highly personal situations, the Southern yuefu are more descriptive and connected to the social, economic, and geographical context, making them, at least in content, similar to the genre of rhapsodies (fu 賦). Another difference is that Han yuefu used more straightforward language, whereas Southern yuefu often played with homonyms and allegories (lian 蓮 "lotus" instead of lian 憐 "to yearn", or li 籬 "fence" instead of li 離 "to take leave").
Northern yuefu poems were composed during the rule of the Sixteen States 十六國 (300–430) and the Northern Wei dynasty 北魏 (386-534). The earlier songs are known as Qiyu ge 企喻歌 or Langya wang geci 琅琊王歌辞; among the later songs is Gaoyang wang yueren ge 高陽王樂人歌. The Northern yuefu are classified as Liang gu jiao heng chui qu 梁鼓角横吹曲 within the collection Yuefu shiji. They are regarded as rough and of lesser quality compared to the Southern yuefu, likely because fewer of them were compiled by court poets. Another reason for the lower quality of Northern yuefu is that the ruling elites of the Sixteen States and the Northern Wei dynasty were not ethnically Han Chinese. The yuefu created under their rule were undoubtedly influenced by their own musical traditions, particularly those of the Xianbei 鮮卑. There appears to have been a dedicated institution at the Northern Wei court tasked with preserving their musical traditions. Additionally, some texts include Xianbei songs, such as the Guoyu zhenge 國語真歌 and Guoyu yuge 國語御歌 recorded in the imperial bibliography Jingji zhi 經籍志 of the official dynastic history Suishu 隋書. Both of these texts are lost. An example of a poem incorporating Xianbei thought and language was Da baijing huang taizi 大白淨皇太子, which is also lost.
The surviving Northern yuefu are by no means simple translations of Xianbei songs. The style and lexicon indicate that they were written in Chinese and by Chinese authors. The word lu 虜 "slave, barbarian" as a designation for the Xianbei, for example, that occurs in these songs, would never have been used by a Xianbei when writing in Chinese. Nonetheless, the stylistic influence of the Southern yuefu can be attested in some songs. Ziliu ma geci 紫騮馬歌辭, for instance, is a mixed song with a relatively crude part in the first stanzas and a much better imitation of an old Han yuefu in the second part. The poems Huang tan si ge 黄淡思歌 include images only known to the southern region, like the Yangtze River or material objects. Poems with the tune Yongtai 雍臺 are common among the Southern yuefu. The courts of the Southern Dynasties also played northern songs by their orchestras and probably revised the texts, in which shape they came back to the north or were archived in the south.
While Southern yuefu are essentially poems about love, the central theme of Northern yuefu is war, combat, martial spirit, or the sorrow of being captured and enslaved by enemies, like Rong gu ge 隔谷歌 or Qiyu ge. However, there are also poems such as Zhuonuo ge 捉搦歌 or Yongzhou ma ke yin 幽州馬客吟 that depict the hard life of peasants without mentioning warfare. The significance of local landowners as protectors of the people, especially when the central government was very weak, is emphasised in Langya wang geci. Themes of love and marriage are also present, as seen in Di qu ge yueci 地驅歌樂辭, Zhuonuo ge, or Zhe yang liu zhi ge 折楊柳枝歌, but these are expressed in a very crude, direct, and straightforward style, which is much inferior to the Southern yuefu.
The most famous song from the North is Mulan shi 木蘭詩, the ballad of the girl Mulan. The text may have been altered somewhat during the Tang period, but the core elements of the text date from the Northern Dynasties period. It might originally have been a ballad of the Xianbei, translated into Chinese, with later refinements added to polish the text.
Two Northern yuefu not recorded in the same category as others are Li Bo xiaomei ge 李波小妹歌 and Chile ge 敕勒歌. The first is a martial poem, the second describes the life of pastoral nomads of the Chile 敕勒 (Türks).