{{Short description|Named tune-title and metrical pattern used in Chinese ci poetry}}{{Infobox Chinese |title = Cipai |t = 詞牌 |s = 词牌 |p = cípái |w = tzʻu-pʻai |l = ci label; tune title }}
'''Cipai''' ({{zh|t=詞牌|s=词牌|p=cípái}}), often translated as "tune title", "ci tune pattern", or "ci melody title", is the name of a fixed tune and metrical pattern used in the composition of ''ci'' poetry, a genre of classical Chinese song lyric. A cipai originally denoted the melody to which a ''ci'' text was fitted; in later literary practice, it came to function mainly as the name of a formal template governing line length, stanza division, rhyme positions, and tonal arrangement.<ref name="britannica-ci">{{cite encyclopedia |title=ci |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/ci |access-date=3 May 2026}}</ref><ref name="acs-song-ci">{{cite web |last=Zhang |first=Yanjin |title=Song Ci |website=The Splendid Chinese Culture |publisher=Academy of Chinese Studies |date=22 August 2019 |url=https://chiculture.org.hk/en/china-five-thousand-years/1941 |access-date=3 May 2026}}</ref>
Cipai is not usually the subject title of an individual poem. Rather, it indicates the inherited tune pattern according to which the poem is written. Different poems may therefore share the same ''cipai'' while expressing entirely different themes. In traditional notation, a poem may be identified by its ''cipai'', followed by a subtitle, preface, or incipit.
== Terminology ==
The term ''cipai'' combines ''ci'' (詞), referring to the lyric genre, and ''pai'' (牌), meaning "label", "sign", or "title". Related terms include ''cidiao'' (詞調), meaning "ci tune" or "ci mode", and ''cipu'' (詞譜), referring to manuals or catalogues that record the formal patterns of ''ci'' tunes.<ref name="zhu2025">{{cite journal |last=Zhu |first=Huiguo |translator-last=Marling |translator-first=Tom |title=Reflecting on a Century of Research on the Tunes and Prosody of Ci |journal=Journal of Chinese Humanities |volume=10 |issue=4 |date=5 February 2025 |pages=257–277 |doi=10.1163/23521341-12340183 |doi-access=free |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/joch/10/4/article-p257_2.xml |access-date=3 May 2026}}</ref>
== History ==
''Ci'' poetry developed from lyrics written to music. The form began to emerge in the Sui and Tang dynasties, took shape during the Five Dynasties period, and flourished in the Song dynasty.<ref name="acs-song-ci" /> Encyclopaedia Britannica describes ''ci'' as a Chinese poetic song form characterized by irregular line lengths, prescribed rhyme schemes, and tonal patterns, each associated with the name of a musical air.<ref name="britannica-ci" />
In early practice, poets wrote words to pre-existing melodies. The name of the melody became the label of the lyric pattern. Over time, these labels were transmitted as ''cipai''. In the Song dynasty, poets such as Liu Yong, Su Shi, Li Qingzhao, Zhou Bangyan, and Xin Qiji greatly developed the genre and expanded its literary range.<ref name="acs-song-ci" /><ref name="fuller2018">{{cite book |last=Fuller |first=Michael A. |title=An Introduction to Chinese Poetry: From the Canon of Poetry to the Lyrics of the Song Dynasty |series=Harvard East Asian Monographs |volume=408 |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center |year=2018 |isbn=9780674983885}}</ref>
=== Separation from melody === The separation of ''cipai'' from actual musical performance was gradual rather than sudden. In the Tang, Five Dynasties, and early Song periods, ''ci'' was closely connected with singing and banquet music. By the Northern Song, however, the genre increasingly acquired independent literary status. The Academy of Chinese Studies notes that Su Shi expanded ''ci'' from lyrics sung by entertainers into a major literary form and broadened its subject matter beyond earlier conventions.<ref name="acs-song-ci" />
As the melodies associated with older ''cipai'' ceased to be transmitted, poets increasingly composed according to written prosodic patterns rather than living tunes. By the Qing dynasty, poets still composed large numbers of ''ci'' even though many earlier tunes had been lost; some Qing writers attempted to create new tunes or reconcile lyrics and melodies anew.<ref name="liu-sha2022">{{cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Shen |last2=Sha |first2=Xianyi |title=The Creation of New Tunes for Ci-Poetry in the Qing Dynasty and Their Dual Forms of Music and Text |journal=Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art |volume=42 |issue=3 |year=2022 |pages=197–208 |url=https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol42/iss3/20/ |access-date=3 May 2026}}</ref> In this later usage, a ''cipai'' functioned mainly as a literary metrical form.
== Form ==
Each ''cipai'' prescribes a particular formal structure. This may include the total number of lines, the number of characters or syllables in each line, the division into sections or stanzas, the rhyme scheme, and the required tonal category of individual syllables.<ref name="acs-song-ci" /><ref name="zhu2025" />
The tonal rules of ''cipai'' are traditionally based on the distinction between ''ping'' (平, level tones) and ''ze'' (仄, oblique tones). In practice, many patterns also allow variant positions, and a single ''cipai'' may have more than one accepted form. Zhu Huiguo describes the study of ''ci'' tunes and prosody as a central component of modern ''ci'' studies, noting that the tune is the carrier of the prosody of a given ''ci''.<ref name="zhu2025" />
Some ''cipai'' are short, while others are long and complex. Traditional classifications of ''ci'' by length include ''xiaoling'' (小令, short lyric), ''zhongdiao'' (中調, medium-length lyric), and ''changdiao'' (長調, long lyric).<ref name="acs-song-ci" />
== Function as title ==
In many editions of classical Chinese poetry, the ''cipai'' appears where a modern reader might expect a title. However, it usually indicates the formal pattern rather than the topic of the poem. A poem written to the tune title ''Shui Diao Ge Tou'' may concern the moon, exile, political emotion, or private longing; the shared feature is the metrical pattern, not the content.
Traditional citation often separates the ''cipai'' from a subtitle or incipit. For example, Su Shi's famous Mid-Autumn poem is commonly referred to as ''Shui Diao Ge Tou: Mingyue jishi you'' (水調歌頭·明月幾時有), where ''Shui Diao Ge Tou'' is the ''cipai'' and ''Mingyue jishi you'' is the opening phrase.<ref name="cai2008">{{cite book |editor-last=Cai |editor-first=Zong-qi |title=How to Read Chinese Poetry: A Guided Anthology |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780231139410}}</ref>
== Examples == Well-known ''cipai'' include:<ref name="long2005">{{cite book |last=Long |first=Yusheng |author-mask=Long Yusheng |script-title=zh:唐宋詞格律 |trans-title=The Prosody of Tang and Song Ci |publisher=Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House |year=2005 |isbn=9787532538263 |language=zh}}</ref> {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Cipai !! Pinyin !! Literal Meaning !! Number of characters |- | 憶江南 || Yì Jiāngnán || Recalling the lands south of the Changjiang|| 27 |- | 如夢令 || Rú Mèng Lìng || As if in a dream || 33 |- | 長相思 || Cháng Xiāngsī || Endless longing || 36 |- | 搗練子 || Dǎo Liàn Zǐ || Pounding white silk (a women's domestic chore in old China) || 27 |- | 漁歌子 || Yú Gē Zǐ || Fisherman's song || 27 |- | 浣溪沙 || Huàn Xī Shā || Washing silk by a creek (alluding to the legendary beauty Xi Shi) || 42 |- | 菩薩蠻 || Púsà Mán || Originally referring to the hairstyle and attire of women from the Nanzhao kingdom, said to resemble bodhisattvas || 44 |- | 卜算子 || Bǔ Suàn Zǐ || Song of the fortune-teller || 44 |- | 減字木蘭花 || Jiǎnzì Mùlán Huā || A shortened version of "Magnolia Flower" || 44 |- | 採桑子 || Cǎi Sāng Zǐ || Picking mulberry leaves || 44 |- | 謁金門 || Yè Jīn Mén || An audience at the Golden Gate (the Han imperial palace gate) || 45 |- | 訴衷情 || Sù Zhōng Qíng || Pouring out one's innermost feelings || 45 |- | 好事近 || Hǎo Shì Jìn || Good fortune is near at hand || 45 |- | 憶秦娥 || Yì Qín É || Remembering the maiden of Qin (alluding to Nongyu, who flew off with her flute-playing husband Xiao Shi) || 46 |- | 清平樂 || Qīng Píng Yuè || Music in the Qingping mode, suggesting peaceful times || 46 |- | 更漏子 || Gēng Lòu Zǐ || Song of the night water-clock dripping through the watches || 46 |- | 阮郎歸 || Ruǎn Láng Guī || Young Master Ruan returns (alluding to Ruan Zhao, who met immortal maidens on Mount Tiantai and returned to find generations had passed) || 47 |- | 畫堂春 || Huà Táng Chūn || Spring within a painted hall || 47 |- | 西江月 || Xī Jiāng Yuè || The moon over the western river || 50 |- | 南歌子 || Nán Gē Zǐ || A song of the south || 52 |- | 醉花陰 || Zuì Huā Yīn || Drunk in the shade of flowers || 52 |- | 浪淘沙 || Làng Táo Shā || Waves washing over the sand || 54 |- | 鷓鴣天 || Zhègū Tiān || A sky filled with the calls of partridges || 55 |- | 鵲橋仙 || Quèqiáo Xiān || Immortals meeting on the Magpie Bridge (alluding to the annual reunion of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl) || 56 |- | 虞美人 || Yú Měirén || Lady Yu, the beloved consort of the warlord Xiang Yu, who took her own life on the battlefield || 56 |- | 南鄉子 || Nán Xiāng Zǐ || A song of the southern countryside || 56 |- | 玉樓春 || Yù Lóu Chūn || Spring in the jade tower || 56 |- | 一剪梅 || Yī Jiǎn Méi || A single sprig of plum blossom || 60 |- | 臨江仙 || Lín Jiāng Xiān || An immortal by the river || 60 |- | 蝶戀花 || Dié Liàn Huā || Butterflies in love with flowers || 60 |- | 釵頭鳳 || Chāi Tóu Fèng || A phoenix-shaped ornament on a hairpin || 60 |- | 漁家傲 || Yú Jiā Ào || The proud spirit of a fisherman's household || 62 |- | 破陣子 || Pò Zhèn Zǐ || Army-breaking Song (originally a Tang military dance tune celebrating victory) || 62 |- | 蘇幕遮 || Sū Mù Zhē || A transliteration of a Central Asian tune name, originally accompanying a water-splashing festival dance || 62 |- | 青玉案 || Qīng Yù Àn || A tray of green jade (from a Han-dynasty poem about a treasured gift) || 67 |- | 江城子 || Jiāng Chéng Zǐ || A small town beside the river || 70 |- | 風入松 || Fēng Rù Sōng || Wind passing through the pines || 76 |- | 滿江紅 || Mǎn Jiāng Hóng || The whole river dyed red (by sunset glow or fallen petals) || 93 |- | 水調歌頭 || Shuǐ Diào Gē Tóu || The opening section of the grand "Water Melody" suite || 95 |- | 八聲甘州 || Bā Shēng Gānzhōu || Eight stanzas of the Ganzhou tune (named for a frontier region on the Silk Road) || 97 |- | 聲聲慢 || Shēng Shēng Màn || Note after note, slow and lingering || 97 |- | 念奴嬌 || Niàn Nú Jiāo || The charm of Niannu, a celebrated Tang-dynasty courtesan and singer || 100 |- | 永遇樂 || Yǒng Yù Yuè || The joy of an everlasting reunion || 104 |- | 望海潮 || Wàng Hǎi Cháo || Watching the sea tide (especially the famed tidal bore at Hangzhou Bay) || 107 |- | 沁園春 || Qìn Yuán Chūn || Spring at Qin Villa, the estate of a Han-dynasty princess || 114 |- | 賀新郎 || Hè Xīn Láng || Congratulating the bridegroom || 116 |- | 摸魚兒 || Mō Yú Ér || Groping for fish (from a folk fishing song) || 116 |- | 蘭陵王 || Lánlíng Wáng || The Prince of Lanling, a sixth-century general renowned for his beauty and valor in battle || 131 |- | 鶯啼序 || Yīng Tí Xù || A prelude of orioles' song || 240 |}
== See also == * Ci (poetry) * Qupai * Classical Chinese poetry forms * Song poetry * Sanqu
== References ==
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Category:Chinese poetry Category:Poetic forms Category:Song dynasty literature Category:Ci (poetry)