Liang Desheng (; 1771–1847) was a Chinese

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

and writer active during the

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-spea ...

. She was the wife of Xu Zongyan, a prominent intellectual from

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whic ...

. Since her sister died young, Liang Desheng acted as a surrogate mother for her niece Wang Duan, who would become an editor. Both of them were also friends with another female poet,

Gu Taiqing Gu Taiqing (; Pinyin: ''Gù Tàiqīng''; 1799 – c. 1877) was one of the top-ranked women poets of the Qing Dynasty. She is especially known for her ''ci'' poetry and for her sequel to the novel ''Honglou meng'' (Dream of the Red Chamber). O ...

. Liang Desheng wrote the final three volumes of the ''tan-ci'' ''Zai sheng Yuan''. The first seventeen volumes had been written by Chen Duansheng, but she had died before she could complete the work. There were more women who tried their hand at writing a conclusion to the book, but hers was considered superior. It is now regularly printed together with the first seventeen volumes. It was first published in 1821 and deals with the affairs of three families in the Yunnan province, during the early Qing Dynasty. She also published a collection of poetry, ''Guchunxian ji'' (Poems from Ancient-Springtime Studio) Translations of her poems are available in several collections. See the translation by Nancy Hodes and Tung Yuan-fang,''Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism,'' edited by Kang-i Sun Chang and Haun Saussy. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999, pp.574-577.

References

Ying Zou, "Crossdressing and other Disguises in Zaishengyuan," ''Late Imperial China'' 33:3 (2012) 119–153. Li Guo, ''Women's Tanci Fiction in Late Imperial and Early Twentieth Century China,'' West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, 2015, chapter 1 "Envisioning a Nascent Feminist Agency in ''Zaishengyuan''," pp. 33–59. {{DEFAULTSORT:Liang Desheng Qing dynasty poets Chinese women poets 19th-century Chinese women writers 1771 births 1847 deaths Writers from Hangzhou 18th-century Chinese women writers Poets from Zhejiang 18th-century Chinese poets 19th-century Chinese poets