Song Wan (; 1614–1673), also known as Song Lichang,

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

Yushu (), was a Chinese poet and government official active during the early

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. The son of a

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

loyalist, Song was a high-flying Qing official and well-regarded poet. Regarded as one of the "eight great Qing-dynasty poets", he died in 1673 at age 59.

Early life and career

Song Wan was born in 1614 in

Laiyang Laiyang city () is a county-level city within Yantai bordering Qingdao, located in the middle of the Shandong Peninsula, in Shandong province, China. The majority (70%) of its population are farmers and it is famous for producing the Laiyang pear ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

, China. His father was a patriotic

official who killed himself following the decline of the dynasty. Song was described as a "filial" son and a conscientious learner. In 1649 he became a civil servant, albeit one under the Qing regime that his father detested, and rose in the ranks quickly. His career as a government official came to a pause after he was accused of working with conspirators during the 1661 Shandong Rebellion, also known as the Yu Qi Rebellion, while he was Chief Inquisitor of Zhejiang. He served three years in prison, along with his family. It was discovered that one of his relatives had reported him for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

; in light of that, Song was cleared of all charges in 1664. Song became Censor of

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

in 1672. Song Wan was also a prolific linguist. He was most interested in poetry and 1333 poems by Song are still in existence. The Library of Laiyang houses sixteen volumes of Song Wan poems, which is the largest such collection.

Death and legacy

A year after moving to Sichuan, in 1673, rebels led by Ming general

Wu Sangui Wu Sangui (; 8 June 1612 – 2 October 1678), courtesy name Changbai () or Changbo (), was a notorious Ming Dynasty military officer who played a key role in the fall of the Ming dynasty and the founding of the Qing dynasty in China. In Chinese ...

seized the capital

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

; Song, after being informed of this, "died of panic and fright". He was aged 59. Song Wan is considered to be one of the "eight great Qing-dynasty poets". His former residence in Laiyang is now a local museum. According to the museum director, Song was an incredibly popular poet whose works were "read by everyone", hailing him as a major inspiration to Chinese poetry. Chiang (2005) states that "Song Wan's life story (...) may be read of the impossibility of adhering to (Confucian ideals)." Song is one of the protagonists of the short story "Squirting" (噴水; also known as "Spraying Water") by

Pu Songling Pu Songling (, 5 June 1640 – 25 February 1715) was a Chinese writer during the Qing dynasty, best known as the author of '' Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' (''Liaozhai zhiyi''). Biography Pu was born into a poor merchant family from Z ...

in ''

Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio ''Liaozhai zhiyi'', sometimes shortened to ''Liaozhai'', known in English as ''Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' or ''Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'', is a collection of Classical Chinese stories by Qing dynasty writer Pu Songling, ...

''. The tale narrates the Song's maids' and mother's encounter with an elderly ghost who spouts water (squirts); the incident allegedly occurred when Song was working for the government and had to travel away from home.

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Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Song, Wan 1614 births 1673 deaths Qing dynasty politicians from Shandong Qing dynasty poets 17th-century Chinese poets Chinese male writers Male poets Writers from Yantai Poets from Shandong