The Yuan

Yuan Dynasty

The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...

 元 period writer of Chinese Sanqu poetry

Chinese Sanqu poetry

Chinese Sanqu poetry refers to a fixed-rhythm form of Classical Chinese poetry, or "literary song", specifically sanqu is a subtype of the qu formal type of poetry. Sanqu was a notable Chinese poetic form, possibly beginning in the Jin Dynasty ; but, especially associated with the Yuan , Ming ,...

, Shang Ting 商挺 (1209–1288), was also known as Shang Mengqing 商孟卿 and also known in old age as “The Old Man of Zuo Mountain” 左 山老人. He was from Shandong

Shandong

' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...

 山東 Province. Shang and his entire family were on familiar terms with the poet and statesman Yuan Haowen

Yuan Haowen

The Chinese Sanqu poetry writer Yuan Haowen 元好問 was also known as Yishan 遺山 or “Yuan of Yi Mountain.” He was from Xinzhou in Shanxi province. His ancestors were of non-Chinese origins who changed their surname to Yuan. His father experienced disappointments in life and later led a secluded...

 元好問 (1190–1257). His uncle was the sanqu 散曲 poet Shang Dao 商道 (1193?-1258?). Shang Ting served the Mongol monarch Kublai before he took the throne. Later there followed an array of official appointments. When the Yuan Dynasty

Yuan Dynasty

The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...

 元 was officially founded in 1271, Shang was appointed Assistant Administrator in the Secretariat. In later life he was implicated in a wrongful death case and was imprisoned twice. He was later found innocent, but never again took an official position. He died at age eighty and many posthumous titles followed. He was a noted calligrapher and landscape artist. Unfortunately, although a prolific poet, most of his writings were lost. The surviving sanqu poems of the poet are all written to the same musical mode and song title. However the content of the poems suggests they were written at different times. His son Shang Qi 商琦 was likewise an official and artist.

See also

• Classical Chinese poetry
  Classical Chinese poetry
  thumb|right|300px|Attributed to [[Han Gan]], Huiyebai , about 750CE .Classical Chinese poetry is that type of poetry that is the traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical Chinese. It is typified by certain traditional forms, or modes, and certain traditional genres...
  
  
• Classical Chinese poetry forms
  Classical Chinese poetry forms
  thumb|right|350px|Poet on a Mountaintop by [[Shen Zhou]], about 1500 CE .Classical Chinese poetry forms are those poetry forms, or modes, which typify the traditional Chinese poems written in Literary or Classical Chinese...
  
  
• Qu (poetry)
  Qu (poetry)
  In Chinese literature, qu , or yuanqu consists of sanqu and zaju . Together with the various shi and fu forms of poetry, the ci, qu, and the other fixed-rhythm type of verse comprise the three main forms of Classical Chinese poetry.Yuanqu is a form of Chinese opera, which became popular in Yuan...
  
  
• Chinese Sanqu poetry
  Chinese Sanqu poetry
  Chinese Sanqu poetry refers to a fixed-rhythm form of Classical Chinese poetry, or "literary song", specifically sanqu is a subtype of the qu formal type of poetry. Sanqu was a notable Chinese poetic form, possibly beginning in the Jin Dynasty ; but, especially associated with the Yuan , Ming ,...
  
  

Translations

(Shuangtiao 雙調 : Panfei qu 潘妃曲)

Untitled

Green willows with a wide flowing wind;

Peach and plum vie to shed blossoms.

The swallows are busy,

Pair after pair with bits of nest

Sport in the painted eaves.

Yellow willow leaves

Fine enough for a room’s screen painting.

(Shuangtiao 雙調 : Panfei qu 潘妃曲)

Untitled

Depressed I climb the high tower to gaze out;

Green lotus leaves and red blossoms everywhere.

Summer days long

As Xuan plants and pomegranate flowers

Vie for fragrance.

Green gauze windows,

Fine enough for a room’s screen painting.