‘拟古’ (nǐgǔ) is a literary term meaning ‘imitating ancient style’ — specifically, composing poetry or prose in the manner of classical Chinese writers from earlier dynasties like the Han, Tang, or Song. The character 拟 (nǐ) means ‘to imitate’ or ‘to emulate’, while 古 (gǔ) means ‘ancient’ or ‘classical antiquity’. Together, they denote a conscious artistic practice of adopting archaic diction, meter, imagery, and rhetorical devices to evoke historical resonance or pay homage to tradition.

This term appears frequently in literary criticism, academic discussions of classical poetry, and prefaces to poetry collections. It is not used in everyday speech but rather in scholarly, artistic, or educational contexts — for example, when describing a modern poet’s deliberate use of Tang-dynasty parallelism and allusion. While ‘imitation’ might sound derivative in English, 拟古 carries positive connotations of mastery, reverence, and stylistic discipline in Chinese literary culture.