Wang Changling

Wang Changling
Wang Changling
王昌齡
	Wang Changling, painted by Kanō Tsunenobu in the 18th century.
Born	698; Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
Died	756 (aged 57–58); Bozhou, Anhui, China
Occupation	Poet
Chinese name
Chinese	王昌齡
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Wáng Chānglíng
Shaobo
Chinese	少伯
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Shàobó

Wang Changling (Chinese: 王昌齡; pinyin: Wáng Chānglíng; 698–756) was a major Tang dynasty poet. His courtesy name was Shaobo (少伯). He was originally from Taiyuan in present-day Shanxi province, according to the editors of the Three Hundred Tang Poems, although other sources claim that he was actually from Jiangning near modern-day Nanjing. After passing the prestigious jinshi examination, he became a secretarial official and later held other imperial positions, including that of an official posting to Sishui (汜水), in what is currently Xingyang, in Henan province. Near the end of his life he was appointed as a minister of Jiangning county. He died in the An Lushan Rebellion; between the 10th month of the 14th year of the Tianbao era (755 CE) and the second year of the Zhide era (757 CE), he was executed by the Tang official Lü Qiuxiao (閭丘曉). When Lüqiu later was sentenced to death by another official Zhang Hao (張鎬), he pleaded for mercy, citing the fact that he had kin to take care of. Zhang's retort was, "Then, who's left to take care of Wang Changling's kin?". Lüqiu went silent after that.^[2]^[3]

He is best known for his poems describing fictional battles in the frontier regions of western China. He also wrote an homage to the Princess Pingyang, Lady Warrior of the early Tang dynasty.^[4] Wang Changling was one of the competitors in the famous wine shop competition along with Gao Shi and Wang Zhihuan.^[5]

Notes

^ From a poem by Wang Changling, "The night is still and a hundred flowers are fragrant in the western palace. She orders the screen to be rolled up, regretting the passing of spring with the Yunhe across her lap. She gazes at the moon, the colors of the trees are hazy in the indistinct moonlight."
^ (（丘）辞曰：‘有亲，乞贷余命。’镐曰：‘王昌龄之亲欲谁养?’晓默然。), New Book of Tang, chap. 203
^ Rexroth (1970): p. 132.
^ "Song of the Spring Palace – Wang Changling". August 10, 2018.
^ Wu (1972): pp. 118-119

References

Rexroth, Kenneth (1970). Love and the Turning Year: One Hundred More Poems from the Chinese. New York: New Directions.
Wu, John C. H. (1972). The Four Seasons of Tang Poetry. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E.Tuttle. ISBN 978-0-8048-0197-3

External links

Works by Wang Changling at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Books of the Quan Tangshi that include collected poems of Wang Changling at the Chinese Text Project:
- Book 140
- Book 141
- Book 142
- Book 143

[1] From a poem by Wang Changling, "The night is still and a hundred flowers are fragrant in the western palace. She orders the screen to be rolled up, regretting the passing of spring with the Yunhe across her lap. She gazes at the moon, the colors of the trees are hazy in the indistinct moonlight."

[2] (（丘）辞曰：‘有亲，乞贷余命。’镐曰：‘王昌龄之亲欲谁养?’晓默然。), New Book of Tang, chap. 203

[3] Rexroth (1970): p. 132.

[4] "Song of the Spring Palace – Wang Changling". August 10, 2018.

[5] Wu (1972): pp. 118-119

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v t e Chinese poetry
Major eras	Classical Chinese poetry Modern Chinese poetry
Poetry by dynasty	Han poetry Jian'an poetry Six Dynasties poetry Tang poetry Song poetry Yuan poetry Ming poetry Qing poetry
Poetry works and collections	Classic of Poetry Chu Ci New Songs from the Jade Terrace Nineteen Old Poems Zhuying ji Wangchuan ji Poems of a Thousand Masters Complete Tang Poems Three Hundred Tang Poems Tangshi baimingjia quanji Wen Xuan Fangweng ci biannian jianzhu
Major forms	Antithetical couplet ci fu shi qu yuefu
Individual poems list	Chinese poems (category list) List of poems (article)
Modern English translated compilations	Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature One Hundred Poems from the Chinese & One Hundred More Poems from the Chinese
Regional styles	Cantonese poetry

Authority control databases
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Wang Changling

Notes

References

Further reading

External links