Ko Ching-ming, professor of Chinese at National Taiwan University, believes it started at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty with the statesman Cao Cao and his son and first Wei emperor Cao Pi, who together moved Chinese verse beyond the traditional heart-felt folk songs to the artistic fruit of friendly competitions at literary gatherings.
台大中文系教授柯慶明認為起自東漢末年的曹操父子，因為他們把詩經以來發抒人民心聲的民歌傳統，轉變成文人在聚會場合中比賽文思的游藝。