Du Qiuniang or Lady Du Qiu (''fl.'' AD 807–831) was a

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

Chinese poet. She is the only female poet to be included in the famous anthology ''

Three Hundred Tang Poems The ''Three Hundred Tang Poems'' () is an anthology of poems from the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907). It was first compiled around 1763 by Sun Zhu (1722–1778Yu, 64–65), who was a Qing Dynasty scholar and was also known as Hengtang Tuishi ( ...

''.

Life

Born in Jinling (modern Nanjing), she became a concubine of the military governor Li Qi at fifteen. After Li was executed for rebelling against

Emperor Xianzong Emperor Xianzong of Tang (4 March to 1 April 778''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 14. – 14 February 820; r. 805 – 820), personal name Li Chun, né Li Chun (), was an emperor of the Chinese Tang Dynasty. He was the eldest son of Emperor Shunzong ...

, Du served in the emperor's palace. She was favourite of Xianzong, and Emperor Muzong appointed her governess of his sixth son

Li Cou Li Cou (; died February 10, 835), formally Crown Prince Huaiyi (懷懿太子), was an imperial prince of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty who became implicated in an alleged plot that the chancellor Song Shenxi was supporting him to be emperor. He w ...

. After Li was falsely accused by Zheng Zhu and demoted, Du returned to Jinling.

Golden Dress Song

Her only surviving poem is the ''Golden Dress Song'' (), said to have been addressed to Li (translation by

Victor Mair Victor Henry Mair (; born March 25, 1943) is an American sinologist. He is a professor of Chinese at the University of Pennsylvania. Among other accomplishments, Mair has edited the standard ''Columbia History of Chinese Literature'' and the ''Co ...

I urge you, milord, not to cherish your robe of golden thread, Rather, milord, I urge you to cherish the time of your youth; When the flower is open and pluckable, you simply must pluck it, Don't wait till there are no flowers, vainly to break branches.

The "robe of golden thread" is a

synecdoche Synecdoche ( ) is a type of metonymy: it is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something is used to refer to the whole (''pars pro toto''), or vice versa (''totum pro parte''). The term comes from Greek . Examples in common Engl ...

for Li Qi's official career. The ''Golden Dress Song'', counseling the listener to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of youth, has been compared to Robert Herrick's ''

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" is a 1648 poem by the English Cavalier poet Robert Herrick. The poem is in the genre of ''carpe diem'', Latin for "seize the day". 1648 text he's to Setting. That Age is best, which is the first, W ...

''.

Legacy

When she was living, poor and old, in her hometown, the poet Du Mu met her and wrote a poem about her (). This poem is prefaced by a brief biography of Du, which is the source for the information we have about her life. There is a character in

Tang Xianzu Tang Xianzu (; September 24, 1550 – July 29, 1616), courtesy name Yireng (), was a Chinese playwright of the Ming Dynasty. Biography Tang was a native of Linchuan, Jiangxi and his career as an official consisted principally of low-level ...

's play ''

The Purple Flute ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' of the same name, which has been taken as a reference to her.

References

External links

* Text of 金縷衣 in Chinese at Wikisource * Text of 杜秋娘诗 in Chinese at Wikisource {{DEFAULTSORT:Du, Qiuniang Chinese women poets Three Hundred Tang Poems poets 9th-century Chinese poets Writers from Nanjing Poets from Jiangsu Tang dynasty imperial consorts