This term refers to works of art which are banal in content and jumbled in form. Here yin (音) stands for words from the heart in general and poetic creation in particular. Ti (体) refers to the choice of genre or style on the basis of content. Zhong Rong (?-518?) used this concept to criticize some young poets of his time who, lacking true feelings and personal experience, could only produce works ill-organized in content and form, devoid of any clear theme or core emotion. In his opinion, they wrote poetry only out of love or because they admired poets for their refinement. Zhong’s contemporary Liu Xie (465?-520? or 532?) proposed six principles for emulating the creation of Confucian classics, in the chapter “Regarding Classics as Ultimate Sources” in his The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons. First, writing should be an outcome of deep feelings, not of guile. Second, it should be stylistically innovative without causing confusion. Third, it should truthfully record people and things rather than distort them. Fourth, it should abandon sophistry in favor of fair reasoning. Fifth, it should be neatly structured, not too wide-ranging. Sixth, it should be charming without any hint of decadence.

Works by some poets of today are banal in content and jumbled in form, but these poets still believe that their poems are truly beautiful. As a result, many children of noble birth regard lack of adornment in their poetic compositions as shameful. They are busy seeking out literary embellishment all day and go on chanting poems well into the night. Zhong Rong: The Critique of Poetry

Lack of talent is like a handicap trying to jump over a low wall with only one leg. All one can do is put some fine-sounding words together to produce a mediocre piece of writing Lu Ji: The Art of Writing