"The Moon over the River on a Spring Night" is a yuefu title originally created by the last emperor of the Chen dynasty. Emperor Chen's work did not survive, and the earliest extant works are two poems under the same title by Emperor Yang of Sui, both in the form of five-syllable Jueju.

The most famous work under the title "The Moon over the River on a Spring Night" is a seven-syllable yuefu style long poem by Tang dynasty poet Zhang Ruoxu. It is one of the only two poems by Zhang that preserve. The poem depicts the scenery of the moonlit riverside on a spring night, with elegant wording, a lofty rhythm, and a sophisticated undertone. This poem did not receive much attention during the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties. Since Li Panlong of the Ming dynasty included it in the Selected Tang Poems, its reputation has been greatly enhanced. Wang Kaiyun of the Qing dynasty praised it as "a unique piece, ultimately becoming a masterpiece". The influential 20th-century poet Wen Yiduo was especially enthusiastic in his praise, calling it "the poem of all poems, the summit of all summits."^[1]

In the early 20th century during the Republic of China era, a traditional pipa piece "Xiao Gu in the Sunset" (夕阳箫鼓) was adapted into a duet for erhu and guzheng, and renamed "The Moon over the River on a Spring Night." Zhang Ruoxu's poem itself was once adapted into a Chinese orchestral music piece by conductor/composer Peng Xiuwen and was widely circulated. In the "Ritual Music" segment of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, performers sang the first two lines of the poem in the style of Kunqu opera: "In spring the river rises as high as the sea, and with the river's rise the moon uprises bright."

The poem was first found in the Northern Song dynasty Music Bureau Poetry Collection (乐府诗集).^[2] It gained attention in literary circles starting from the Ming dynasty when Li Panlong included it in the Anthology of Tang Poems (唐诗选). Later, Tang Ruxun's Exegesis of Tang Poetry (唐诗解), Wang Fuzhi's Annotated Anthology of Tang Poetry (唐诗评选), and Shen Deqian's Selections of Tang Poetry (唐诗别裁) all included this poem. In the Qing dynasty, Wang Kaiyun elevated it to the status of "a one-of-a-kind piece, ultimately becoming a masterpiece," ^[3] a review that has been adopted by later critics.

Wen Yiduo described it as: "Any comment or analysis on it is blasphemy... It is poetry within poetry, the peak of peaks." Wen held that this poem set the path for High Tang poetry, making it an "invaluable accomplishment". Wen observed a sense of infinity in the poem's depiction of natural scenes. Enthralled by the moonlight shed on the river, the poet transcended human sentimentality and delved into a contemplation of the ultimate reality of the cosmos.^[1]

Below is the original verse with a translation by Xu Yuanchong:^[4]

• Cheng, Jixian (2007). 法国汉学家论中国文学: 古典诗词 [French sinologist on Chinese literature: classical poetry] (in Chinese). Zhongguo Nongye Chubanshe. pp. 182–211. ISBN 9787560066196.