Caotangshiyuand the Revival of Ci Poems in the Ming Dynasty

Caotangshiyu,an anthology of prosodic ci poems compiled in bookshops during the Southern Song Dynasty, had once exerted significant influence on ci poems in the Ming Dynasty. However, for a long time in the earlier years of the Ming Dynasty, interest in ci poems was on the decline and naturally this collection was neglected or in a sense ignored. During the Mid-ming Dynasty, people were interested in the creation of ci poems, but the rhymes of ci poems as well as the tunes were lost. So this anthology was regarded as the only literary cannon, on the basis of which ci poems were written, tuned, imitated, criticized, or compiled. As scholars researched on it in multiple perspectives, the ci poems in the Ming Dynasty soon revived.