Abstract As a genre originating from Tang dynasty entertainment quarters, the song lyric (ci) has evolved from an entertaining genre performed by singing girls into one expressing male intentions since the Northern Song dynasty. The literati men's canonization of the song lyric, however, was concurrent with their caveat against the genre's deep-rooted association with effeminacy, a phenomenon that is neglected by scholars who study masculinity in premodern China. This article foregrounds the role of “remarks on song lyrics” (cihua 詞話) in documenting the literati's negotiation of masculinity in late imperial China. By examining Remarks on Song Lyrics from the White Rain Study (Baiyuzhai cihua 白雨齋詞話), a sophisticated commentary on song lyrics written by Chen Tingzhuo 陳廷焯 (1853–1892) in the late nineteenth century, this study illuminates how Chen implicitly evaluated different models of masculinity through his critique of song lyrics in different aesthetic styles. The study argues that Chen's aesthetic ideal of “depth and circuitousness” indicates a grander agenda of reconstructing the masculine model of the Confucian sage in the late Qing dynasty. It also shows how the inner contradictions in Chen's lyric criticism reflect a failed attempt at recuperating Confucian masculinity.
Fan Wu (Sat,) studied this question.