Yuan Mei
Yuan Mei | ||
---|---|---|
袁枚 | ||
Hanyu Pinyin | Suíyuán Lăorén |
Yuan Mei (
Biography
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Early life
Yuan Mei was born in Qiantang (錢塘, in modern Hangzhou), Zhejiang province, to a cultured family who had never before attained high office. He achieved the degree of jinshi in 1739 at the young age of 23 and was immediately appointed to the Hanlin Academy (翰林院). Then, from 1742 to 1748, Yuan Mei served as a magistrate in four different locations in Jiangsu. However, in 1748, shortly after being assigned to administer part of Nanjing, he resigned his post and returned to his hometown to pursue his literary interest.[2]
Literary career
In the decades before his death, Yuan Mei produced a large body of poetry, essays and paintings. His works reflected his interest in
Throughout his lifetime, Yuan Mei travelled extensively throughout southern China, visiting Huangshan, Guilin, Tiantai, Wuyi and other famous mountains. On some of those visits, Yuan kept journal entries, representative of which is the You Guilin zhu shan ji ("Record of tours of the mountains of Guilin"). He also accepted students. Since he admired women's poetry, he also took several female students and helped them publish their work under their own names.
Beliefs and women's literacy
Yuan was opposed to the strict moral and aesthetic norms of his day and valued creativity and self-expression. He advocated for women's literacy. Yuan was both famed and criticized for his Sui Garden where women would gather to compose and recite poetry. Two of Yuan's sisters enjoyed praise for their literary talent.[3]
Wonder tales
His anthology of supernatural tales, the
The work is classified under the biji fiction genre), but they are anecdotes collected over many years, purporting to be actual events recorded by the author.[8]
Gastronomic work
The food writer
Yuan published his recipes and thoughts on cooking in his 1792 gastronomic manual and cookbook
Editions and translations
- Yuan Mei, Yingzhong Wang and Yingzhi Wang, eds. 随园食单 (Sui Yuan Shi Dan). Nanjing: Feng huang chubanshe, 2006. ISBN 978-7-80643-493-2.
- translations
- Yuan, Mei (2017), Campbell, Duncan (ed.), "Yuan Mei's Garden of Accommodation", China Heritage Annual, translated by Campbell, Duncan, Wairarapa Valley, New Zealand
- —— (2019). The Way of Eating: Yuan Meí's Manual of Gastronomy. Translated by Chen, Sean Jy-Shyang. Introduction by ISBN 9781614728276.
- Yüan, Mei (1996). Censored by Confucius: Ghost Stories by Yuan Mei. Translated by Kam, Louie; ISBN 1563246805.
- —— (2016) [1996]. Censored by Confucius: Ghost Stories by Yuan Mei. Translated by Kam, Louie; ISBN 1315285711.
- —— (2016) [1996]. Censored by Confucius: Ghost Stories by Yuan Mei. Translated by Kam, Louie;
- Yuan, Mei (2003), Harmony Garden: The Life, Criticism, and Poetry of Yuan Mei, translated by Schmidt, J. D., Routledge, ISBN 1138863416
- —— (1997), I Don't Bow to Buddhas: Selected Poems of Yuan Mei, translated by Seaton, J.P., Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press, ISBN 1-55659-120-9
Further reading
- Arthur Waley. Yuan Mei, Eighteenth Century Chinese Poet. London: Allen & Unwin, 1956
- Hummel, Arthur W. Sr., ed. (1943). . Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period. United States Government Printing Office.
References
- Citations
- ^ 26岁官至正处级,33岁辞职做网红,这个清朝吃货不简单. apdnews.com (in Chinese). 2017-09-26.
- ISBN 978-0-253-32983-7.
- ISBN 0-7007-0439-6.
- ^ Thomé (2008).
- ^ Kam & Edwards trr. (1996), p. xxiii and note 1
- ^ a b Kam & Edwards trr. (1996), p. xxxiii.
- ^ Kam & Edwards trr. (2016) [1996], "Introduction", and notes 1–13
- ^ Kam & Edwards trr. (1996), p. xxviii.
- ^ Dunlop, Fuchsia (November 24, 2008). "Garden of Contentment". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
- ^ Endymion Wilkinson, Chinese History: A Manual (Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press, Rev. and enl., 2000): 634. The other three are Su Shi (1037-1101), Ni Zan (1301-74), and Xu Wei (1521-93).
- ^ Hsiang-Ju Lin and Tsuifeng Lin. Chinese Gastronomy. New York: Hastings House, 1969), 44-45, 47.
- ^ Portions translated in Arthur Waley, Yuan Mei, Eighteenth Century Chinese Poet (London: Allen & Unwin, 1956):196 ff and Lin, Chinese Gastronomy, 45-48.
- ^ Translating the Suiyuan Shidan
- ^ Chen tr. (2019).
- Bibliography
- Thomé, Jennifer (2008). Jenny Hanivers, Dragons and Basilisks in the Old Natural History Books and in Modern Times (M.A.). Arizona State University.