The lyric Chinese poetry Ci flourished again in the Qing Dynasty after its decline in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Such a change was closely associated with common practice changes of the times. Traditionally, Ci and Sanqu (a type of verse) were freer and closer to daily life and live emotions than poem. When it came to the comparison between Ci and Sanqu, the former was more elegant while the latter was more novel, shallow, lively and closer to spoken language. The decline of Ci during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties was actually because it was substituted for by Sanqu. For Qing literati who were convergent and fond of elegance, however, the linguistic style of Sanqu was obviously out of place. In addition, despite the coexistence of multiple poetic styles, the tendency towards knowledge and reason was obvious and poems became defective in expressing emotions. The defect had to be made up by other literary styles. It can be argued that the resurgence of Ci in the Qing Dynasty had a very similar background with its appearance at the very beginning.

Chen Weisong, Zhu Yizun and Nalan Xingde were three great Ci writers during early Qing Dynasty.