You Tong’s (尤侗 1618-1704) Yuefu Poems in Imitation of the History of the Ming Dynasty (拟明史乐府) constructs a concise “history of the Ming” through a cycle of 100 poems, outlining the entire trajectory of the dynasty’s rise and decline. The collection both recalls the relative peace and prosperity of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and criticizes the political corruption of its middle and late periods, while implicitly offering admonitions for contemporary political affairs. This group of Yuefu poems closely follows the formal model of Li Dongyang’s (李东阳)Yuefu Poems in Imitation of the Ancient Style (拟古乐府) while more distantly drawing on Miao Xi’s (缪袭)Twelve Songs of the Wei Dynasty’s Military Music (魏鼓吹十二曲) in its mode of narrating the founding of a dynasty. In spirit, it inherits the satirical and admonitory tradition of Bai Juyi’s (白居易)New Yuefu Songs (新乐府). The collection reveals You Tong’s complex sentiments toward the Ming and Qing dynasties, encompassing both his nostalgia for his former dynasty and his emotional attachment as a loyalist, as well as his gradual recognition and acceptance of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). This ambivalence reflects the Qing court’s efforts to win over and assimilate literati through its policies of civil governance, while also revealing the oscillation of literati, living through a dynastic transition, between maintaining moral integrity and making compromises.