qu
The Qu form of poetry is a type of Classical Chinese poetry form, consisting of words written in one of a number of certain, set tone patterns, based upon the tunes of various songs. Thus Qu poems are lyrics with lines of varying longer and shorter lengths, set according to the certain and specific, fixed patterns of rhyme and tone of conventional musical pieces upon which they are based and after which these matched variations in lyrics (or individual Qu poems) generally take their name. The fixed-tone type of verse such as the Qu and the ci together with the shi and fu forms of poetry comprise the three main forms of Classical Chinese poetry.
In Chinese literature, the Qu (Chinese: 曲; pinyin: qǔ; Wade–Giles: ch'ü) form of poetry from the Yuan Dynasty may be called 元曲 (Yuánqǔ; Yüan-ch'ü). Qu may be derived from Chinese opera, such as the Zaju (雜劇), in which case these Qu may be referred to as sanqu (散曲).