Chen Weisong

Chen Weisong (陈维崧), also called Chen Qinian (其年) or Chen Jialing (迦陵),[2] lived 1626 January 7－1682 June 13, was the first of the great Ci and Pianwen poets during the Qing dynasty. He was the leader and founder of the Yangxian poetry school (阳羡词派).[3]

字其年，号迦陵

Chen Weisong
陈维崧
Portrait from Qing dynasty (《清代學者象傳》)[1]
Born1626 January 7
Jiangsu
Died1682 June 13
NationalityChinese
Occupationpoet
Years active1626-1682
EraMing dynasty, Qing dynasty
Known forpianwen, Ci (poetry)
Parent(s)
  • Chen Zhenhui (father)

Life

Chen Weisong was born to Ming dynasty prince Chen Zhenhui (陈贞慧) in Yixing, Jiangsu.[4] Chen's ancestor Chen Yuting (陈于廷) was a Ming dynasty royal court official (左都御史).[3] Growing up, Chen had a long beard or ran, so he was sometimes called Chen Ran (陈髯).[5]

He grew up healthy with a talent in literature and writing. He ranked first in the Yangxian poetry test / competition[6] and was friends with Wu Weiye, Maoxiang, Gong Dingzi, Jiang Chenying, Shao Changheng, Peng Sundi and others.[7] Together with Wu Zhaoqian and Peng Shidu, he was praised by Wu Weiye as "Three Phoenix in Jiang Zuo" (江左三凤).[8] Together with Wu Qi and Zhang Zaogong, they are called "three pianwen geniuses" (骈体三家；pianwen is a form of Chinese poem).[9] When the Ming was replaced by the Qing, Chen took the Imperial examination (科举) to become a government bureaucrat, but then later changed his mind to pursue a life as a poet.[10]

In November of the 15th year of Shunzhi (1658), he visited Maoxiang, studied in Shencui Room in Shuihua Temple, and met Yunlang (Xu Ziyun).[10]

In the spring of the first year of Kangxi (1662), he went to Yangzhou and alongside writers Wang Shizhen and Zhang Yangzhong helped repair the Xihong Bridge.[11] In the eighteenth year of Emperor Kangxi (1709), he participated in the 'Erudite Great Poetry Competition' (博学宏辞科) and was awarded by the official Hanlin Academy for his works.[12]

In 1682 (21st year of Kangxi), Chen had a headache for more than 40 days and then passed away, aged 58. His friend Jiang Jingqi (蒋景祁) mourned and wrote:

'This grief is hard to overcome. It is impossible to forget the tomb of this great hero. The spirit is now like frozen drum strings.'[13][14]

Poems

Chen was a prolific poet, writing around 460 poems[15] and 1,629 songs on a variety of topics. He was the first great Ci poets during Qing dynasty and considered one of the greatest poets in Chinese history.[16] His works include:[17][18]

  • 《湖海楼全集》五十卷、
  • 《湖海楼诗集》八卷、
  • 《陈迦陵文集》十六卷、(Chen Jialing compilation)
  • 《陈迦陵词集》三十卷、
  • 《陈检讨四六文集》二十卷、
  • 《乌丝词》四卷、
  • 《两晋南北史集珍》六卷等。
  • 《今词选》cowritten with Pan Mei (潘眉)

It was said of Chen that:

“填词之富，古今无两” (The richness of Chen's poems is second to none from past to present).

According to Qian Zhonglian (zh:钱仲联), among 1944 Ci poems compiled over China's history, Chen Weisong's poems stand out as the richest. Today he is recognized as one of the first great Ci poets during the Ming-Qing Transition and one of the greatest poets in Chinese history.[16]

Friends and Family

Even though Chen Weisong married and had children (sons and daughters) with wives and concubines,[19] his deepest relationship was with boy-actor Yun Lang (云郎), also known as Xu Ziyun (徐紫云). The relationship was famous among their contemporaries, and is also of interest among modern scholars studying sexuality in late imperial China.[20][21]

Chen wrote many poems with, and about, Yun Lang. For example, on Yun Lang's wedding day, which was arranged by Chen, he wrote:

"Six years we have shared life in this lonely world
I’ll never forget how,
Beside a pillow of red shrub flowers,
Your tears fell tenderly.
Your wedding completed,
May you live in conjugal bliss.
And please perform your best
At being a good husband.
Sorrowfully, my inner quilt as cold as iron,
I reach for the mahogany panpipe
With no hope of catching the light of daybreak through the windows.
Please don’t worry that I suffer this deep grief."[22][23][24][25]

Despite the dejected spirit of the poem, there is no evidence that Chen's relationship with Yun underwent any change after the wedding; later poems and biographical accounts indicate that they kept their status as each other's primary partner until the younger man's death in 1675.[22][26]

An artist by the name of Chen Hu also painted a portrait of Yun after a bath; the picture was so famous during the Qing dynasty, that a publication was released containing about 160 poems taking inspiration from the work and celebrating the young man and his relationship with Chen; the poems were composed by almost eighty literary celebrities and officials of the time, including Gong Dingzi, Song Wan, and You Tong.[27][28]

References and notes
  1. See zh:清代學者象傳
  2. 字其年，号迦陵
  3. 清《河南通志 卷六十九》：“皇清陈维崧字其年宜兴人祖于庭前明左都御史父贞慧与商丘侯方域交善，同罹阮大铖之祸。方域避乱阳羡以女许字维崧弟宗石后，宗石入赘，遂为宋人，维崧亦寓宋，与弟同居。维崧为文长于排偶。长洲汪琬称为七百年一人，后以博学宏词徴除翰林检讨，纂修《明史》，卒于官。”
  4. 王西樵《筠廊偶笔》曰:“陈其年短而髯，不修边幅，吾对之只觉其妩媚可爱，以伊胸中有数千卷书耳。”
  5. 邵长蘅《青门賸稿》卷二《病起拨闷十二首》，其九有-{云}-:“陈髯丽藻世无双，宋派同时竞长雄。”
  6. 阳羡令何明瑞拔童子试第一
  7. 与吴伟业、冒襄、龚鼎孳、姜宸英、邵长蘅、彭孙遹等人有往来
  8. 与吴兆骞、彭师度同被吴伟业誉为“江左三凤”
  9. 与吴绮、章藻功称“骈体三家”。
  10. 《詩集‧將發如皋留別冒巢民先生》卷一
  11. 康熙元年（1662年）暮春，至扬州与王士祯、张养重等修禊红桥。
  12. 康熙十八年（1709年），举博学鸿词科，授官翰林院检讨。
  13. 《贺新郎·端阳后四日检迦陵遗集有感》
  14. “论此恨茫茫难渡。绝调广陵人解否？怕伤情莫再冰弦鼓。”
  15. 小令、中调、长调共四百六十调
  16. 钱仲联〈论陈维崧的湖海楼词〉一文中统计其词有“一千九百四十四首”，是历代词人词作品最丰富的。
  17. 《诗集‧将发如皋留别冒巢民先生》卷一
  18. "陈维崧传记——近三百年名家词选(龙榆生)". longyusheng.org. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  19. In ancient times, successful men usually had concubines. However after the Qing dynasty ended, the practice was eventually dropped.
  20. Wu 2004, p. 62–76.
  21. Volpp 2002, pp. 949–984.
  22. Wu 2004, p. 68.
  23. 桃笙 Tao as in peach, Sheng as in a bamboo reed instrument, perhaps used in this poem as a kind of telescope to see through the window
  24. 《贺新郎·云郎合巹为赋此词》
  25. “六年孤馆相偎傍。最难忘，红蕤枕畔，泪花轻飏。了尔一生花烛事，宛转妇随夫唱。只我罗衾寒似铁，拥桃笙难得纱窗亮。休为我，再惆怅。”
  26. Volpp 2002, pp. 959.
  27. 《紫云出浴图》
  28. Wu 2004, p. 71.

Sources
  • Wu, Cuncun (2004). Homoerotic Sensibilities in Late Imperial China. RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0-203-69260-8.
  • Volpp, Sophie (2002). "The Literary Circulation of Actors in Seventeenth-Century China". Journal of Asian Studies. 61 (3): 949–984.

Reading
  • 叶嘉莹：〈陈维崧词平议〉。
  • 叶嘉莹：〈陈维崧词讲稿之一：从云间到阳羡词风的转变〉。
  • 錢仲聯：〈論陳維崧的湖海樓詞〉
  • 歐明俊 (2001):《豪放詞三百首》成都：巴蜀書社
  • 学术论文内容来自 周绚隆.    论陈维崧以诗为词的创作特征及其意义． 《 CNKI;WanFang 》 ， 2004 
  • 周绚隆.    实用性原则的遵循与背叛—陈维崧题画词的文本解读． 《 首都师范大学学报(社会科学版) 》 ， 2000 
  • 周绚隆.    论迦陵词以文为词的倾向—兼评陈维崧革新词体的得失 On the Inclination of using Prose Skills to Write Ci in Jialing's． 《 VIP 》 ， 2002 
  • 刘明玉.    近25年来陈维崧词研究的回顾与展望——兼谈文体功能研究的重要意义． 《 CNKI;WanFang 》 ， 2007 
  • 梁鉴江.    诗史与词史——浅谈杜诗对陈维崧词的影响． 《 CNKI 》 ， 2001

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