Yinglian Customs
01 · Historical Records
The couplet custom originated in the phenomenon of antithesis in ancient Chinese. Around 290 CE, in the Western Jin period, there appeared antithetical lines that observed tonal regulation, which can be regarded as an important mark of its formation. In the course of more than seventeen hundred years of historical transmission, couplets and traditional literary forms such as parallel prose and regulated verse influenced and borrowed from one another; passing through the three important periods of development in the Northern Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, their forms became increasingly diverse and their cultural accumulation gradually richer. Couplets have the common names "paired sayings" (ouyu), "parallel phrases" (lici), and "linked phrases" (lianyu); to call them "antithetical couplets" (duilian) began in the Ming dynasty.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Couplets take "pair" (fu) as their measure word; generally two lines of writing form one couplet, displayed side by side in vertical arrangement, read from top to bottom, right side first and then left, the right side being the upper couplet and the left side the lower couplet. Couplets belong to metrical literature and have various strict requirements, but there is no limit on the number of characters or sentences — from as few as one character to as many as a thousand words. Upper and lower parallelism, equal character counts, matching parts of speech, opposition of level and oblique tones, corresponding rhetorical methods, matching rhythmic beats, and formal correspondence with semantic linkage are their stylistic characteristics, of which the tonal patterns of level and oblique and the antithesis of parts of speech are the crucial points. Couplets are concise in wording and appeal to refined and popular tastes alike, and are called "the poem among poems." With characters as content and calligraphy as carrier, couplets come in a great variety of products, including paper mounting, picture frames, wood carving, stone carving, and bamboo carving. In the course of the development of couplets, a large number of related writings appeared, and the various kinds of couplet classics and collections number in the tens of thousands. Couplets are widely applied: besides being hung in famous scenic sites and palaces, pavilions and towers, and halls and studies, they are also widely used on occasions such as festivals and celebrations, inscribed gifts, congratulations, mourning, and tombs.
Reading right side first
The couplet is read top to bottom, right line before left.
Counting couplets by the word pair
A couplet is counted as a pair of lines, hence the terminology of full and half pairs.
Tone and word-class pairing
Among the seven requirements, tonal contrast and matching word classes are decisive.
Spring, longevity and scenic couplets
Couplets classified by use, each following its own conventions of topic and tone.
The many carriers of a couplet
Couplets appear on paper, in frames and carved in wood, stone or bamboo.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
According to differences in function, they can be divided into Spring Festival couplets, birthday couplets, scenic-site couplets, self-inscribed couplets, and various technical-skill couplets. The form of couplets differs from maker to maker, but their usage is largely uniform: one couplet has two lines, displayed side by side in vertical arrangement, read right side first and then left, the right being the upper couplet and the left the lower. To judge a couplet, one first sees whether the two lines are antithetical and whether their character counts are equal, and then whether the parts of speech, tonal patterns, rhetorical methods, and rhythm correspond one to one, of which the tonal patterns and the antithesis of parts of speech are the crucial points. Because the metrical requirements are strict yet not limited by character or sentence count — from as few as one character to as many as a thousand words — everything from three- or five-character short couplets in halls and studies to hundred-character giant couplets at roadside pavilions and ancient temples can form a pair. Different functions lead to different methods of composition and closure: Spring Festival couplets emphasize auspicious phrases and seasonal appropriateness, birthday couplets emphasize the reckoning of age, scenic-site couplets emphasize fitting the scene and using allusions, self-inscribed couplets emphasize the expression of feelings, and technical-skill couplets specifically display the methods of antithesis, embedding, splitting, and combining. The places of hanging range from famous scenic sites and palaces, pavilions and towers, to halls and studies, and their uses extend to festivals and celebrations, inscribed gifts, congratulations, mourning, and tombs; in form, besides paper mounting and picture frames, there are wood carving, stone carving, and bamboo carving, which fix writing and calligraphy together on durable materials. All of this has also enabled this custom to continue in Chinese-speaking regions founded on Chinese language and characters, and even in overseas Chinese communities; the accumulated related writings already number in the tens of thousands.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The couplet custom is transmitted and spread among Chinese people, among regions throughout the world that use Chinese, and among peoples with cultural ties to the Chinese language and characters, and is of great value for the promotion of Chinese culture.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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