Yuan Song (in simplified Chinese 元曲) is a very popular form of Chinese art and it is actually a popular form of opera in the Yuan Dynasty. Together with Tang Poems and Song Words, Yuan Song has a very important position in Chinese Literature and it affects a lot of people from past to now.

Yes, as mentioned above, Yuan Song actually refers to the opera during the Yuan Dynasty. Then, you might ask, what are the special things about these operas so that they are so famous and even become a branch of Chinese Literature? Well, actually, Yuan Songs follow a lot of rules and patterns and there are a lot of special common characteristics among these songs.

For Yuan Songs, music is added to the opera and the style of the music was very special. There are 4 very famous artists writing Yuan Songs and they are generally all about the Yuan Songs.

In fact, these 4 people have slightly difference in their writing styles and therefore, they separately had a group of supporters from past to now. However, actually, to many people, these 4 people are in the same level and there would not be any ranking among them.

Talking about Yuan Songs, one of the most important characteristic is that the operas would usually spread a certain kind of messages. For example, there would be message about Chinese moral sense and there are a lot of other things. This is also a characteristic for Chinese Literature, that is Chinese artists would usually be responsible for spreading positive messages to the public. They would not try to say something violent or bad. Instead, they would write something like “The Hero Would Defeat Their Enemy”. Moreover, you could hardly see that bad guys would receive good final ending except they turn good. This is, therefore, one of the characteristics of Chinese culture.

Nowadays, more and more people would appreciate Yuan Songs because they are relatively more interesting that Poems and Words as they could be watched lively. Of course, in the future, it is expected that this form of Chinese art would be appreciated in a larger extend.