{{Short description|Chinese song genre that mixed verse and prose}} {{Infobox Chinese|s=弹词|t=彈詞|p=Táncí|w=T'an<sup>2</sup>-tz'u<sup>2</sup>|l=Plucking rhymes|mi={{IPAc-cmn|t|an|2|ci|2}}}} '''Tanci''' is a narrative form of song in China that alternates between verse and prose.<ref name=WangLingzhenp53>Wang, Lingzhen, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9DVHfSI30bkC&dq=%22a+long+narrative+form+alternating+between+prose+and+verse%22&pg=PA53 53].</ref> The literal name "plucking rhymes" refers to the singing of verse portions to a ''pipa''.<ref name=HuSiao-chenp539>Hu, Siao-chen, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=EFI7tr9XK6EC&dq=tanci&pg=RA1-PA539 539].</ref> A ''tanci'' is usually seven words long. On some occasions the length is ten words.<ref name=WangLingzhenp53/> Some scholars refer to ''tanci'' as "plucking rhymes," "southern singing narrative," "story-sining," "strum lyrics". The local forms of Tanci encompasses Suzhou Tanci, Yangzhou Tanci, Siming Nanci, Shaoxing Pinghudiao, etc.
''Tanci'' consists of both spoken storytelling and sung ballads. Another distinct narrative style is ''pinghua'', a storytelling art form which is purely spoken. The word ''pingtan'' is used as a collective term to refer to ''tanci'' and ''pinghua''.<ref name=Webster-Changp26>Webster-Chang, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=__0H_udCZJsC&dq=tanci&pg=PA26 26].</ref>
The three most famous ''tanci'' are the ''Zaishengyuan'' ("Lovers through Time") by Chen Duansheng, ''Tianyuhua'' ("A Rain of Flowers") by Tao Zhenhuai, and ''Bishenghua'' ("Flowers from her Brush") by Qiu Xinru.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Biographical dictionary of Chinese women |date=1998 |publisher=M. E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0-7656-0043-1 |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=Lily Xiao Hong |series=University of Hong Kong Libraries publications |location=Armonk, N.Y |editor-last2=Stefanowska |editor-first2=A. D. |editor-last3=Wiles |editor-first3=Sue |editor-last4=Ho |editor-first4=Clara Wing-chung}}</ref>
==History== Historically ''tanci'' was a popular art form with women in the lower Yangtze River Valley, specifically the Jiangnan region.<ref name=HuSiao-chenp539/><ref name=Webster-Changp26/> It originated as a popular literary genre in the Ming dynasty. In the mid-to-late Qing dynasty it became popular with educated women who wrote and performed the music and who were the genre's audience and reader base. One example is ''Phoenixes Flying Together'' by Cheng Huiying, which was issued in several print editions between 1897 and 1899.<ref>Liu, pp. 19{{ndash}}20</ref>
Women's ''tanci'' often are about their philosophy of literary creation, the sentiments of the author, and descriptions of seasons.<ref name=HuSiao-chenp539/> Lingzhen Wang, author of ''Personal Matters: Women's Autobiographical Practice in Twentieth-century China'', wrote that "some scholars have even suggested that Chinese women consciously seized upon ''tanci'' to express their gendered experiences and to create a female literary tradition different from the male-dominated genres of novels and stories."<ref name=WangLingzhenp54>Wang, Lingzhen, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9DVHfSI30bkC&dq=tanci&pg=PA54 54].</ref>
During the Qing dynasty it was not only used for entertainment but also for political and social propaganda. The ''Gengzi Guobian Tanci'', a ''tanci'' by Li Baojia (Li Boyuan) written about the Boxer Rebellion, is an example of a political ''tanci''.<ref name=WangLingzhenp54/>
==References== * Guo, Li. "Narrative and Genre: Locating Tanci in Chinese Literature and World Literature." In ''A Companion to World Literature''. Edited by K. Seigneurie. John Wiley & Sons, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118635193.ctwl0179
* Hu, Siao-chen. "Qu Xinru." In ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: 4 Volume Set''. Edited by Bonnie G. Smith. Oxford University Press, 2008. {{ISBN|0195148908}}, 9780195148909. * {{cite thesis |last1=Liu |first1=Wenjia |title=The ''Tanci'' ''Feng Shuangfei'': A Female Perspective on the Gender and Sexual Politics of Late-Qing China |publisher=University of Oregon |url=https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/d11103a2-642a-44f1-a2de-0a427431af84/content |date=September 2010 }} * Wang, Lingzhen. ''Personal Matters: Women's Autobiographical Practice in Twentieth-century China''. Stanford University Press, 2004. {{ISBN|080475005X}}, 9780804750059. * Webster-Chang, Stephanie J. "Composing, Revising, and Performing Suzhou Ballads: A Study of Political Control and Artistic Freedom in Tanci, 1949--1964." (University of Pittsburgh) ''ProQuest'', 2008. {{ISBN|1109055803}}, 9781109055801. * Zhang, Yu, ''Interfamily Tanci Writing in Nineteenth-Century China: Bonds and Boundaries''. Lexington Books, 2017. {{ISBN|9781498557863}}.
==Notes== {{Portal|China|Music}} {{reflist}}
{{Chinese opera}} Category:Tanci Category:Chinese poetry genres Category:Chinese styles of music Category:Chinese folk music Category:Genres of poetry