The term entering tone (rùshēng 入聲) in its most basic meaning refers to the Middle Chinese (MC) short tone on syllables with -p, -t, -k stop endings. The Yuánhé yùnpǔ 元和韻譜 of the Táng dynasty (618–907) notes that “the entering tone is straight and short”. According to this record, we know that the clipped entering tone seen today in the di…