Liu Changqing

Liu Changqing
Liu Changqing
劉長卿
	Liu Changqing.
Born	709; Luoyang, Henan, China
Died	785 (aged 75–76); China
Occupation(s)	Poet, politician
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	劉長卿
Simplified Chinese	刘长卿
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Liú Chángqīng
Wade–Giles	Liu2 Ch'ang2-ch'ing1
Wenfang
Chinese	文房
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Wénfáng

Liu Changqing (Wade–Giles: Liu Ch'ang-ch'ing; ca. 709–785), courtesy name Wenfang (文房) was a Chinese poet and politician during the Tang dynasty. Eleven of his poems are included in the popular anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems.^[1]

Biography

Different sources place the year of Liu Changqing's birth as early as 709 and as late as 726.^[a] He came from the city of Xuancheng. Although his ancestral hometown was Hejian, he spent most of his youth in Luoyang, the eastern capital of the Tang dynasty. Liu obtained his Jinshi title around 750s. In 780, he was appointed governor of Suizhou in Henan province. Because of this, his contemporaries often referred to him as Liu Suizhou.^[2]

Like his birth, the year of his death is uncertain. One source says he died around 786.^[b]

Poetry

During his lifetime, Liu's poems did not receive much praise, although he was one of the representative poets during the reign of Emperor Dezong. Later generations, however, have acknowledged his skill as a poet. Liu was especially skillful in writing of poems with 5 characters.^[3]^[4]

An example:

While Visiting on the South Stream the Taoist Priest Chang (尋南溪常山道人隱居)^[5]

一路經行處，   Walking along a little path, ;
莓苔見履痕，   I find a footprint on the moss.
白雲依靜渚，   A while cloud low on the quiet lake
春草閉閒門。   Grasses that sweeten an idle door.
過雨看松色，   A pine grown greener with the rain;
隨山到水源，   A brook that comes from a mountain source –
溪花與禪意，   And, mingling with Truth among the flowers,
相對亦忘言。   I have forgotten what to say.

Notes

^ Ueki et al. (1999, p. 104) give "726?", Maruyama (1994) gives "725?", while World Encyclopedia gives "710?" and Britannica Kokusai Dai-Hyakkajiten gives 709. Daijirin does not give a date for his birth.
^ Ueki et al. (1999, p. 104) and Daijirin give "786?", Britannica Kokusai Dai-Hyakkajiten gives 785, World Encyclopedia gives "785?", while Maruyama (1994) gives "791?". Daijirin does not give a date for his death.

References

^ Watson, 117
^ 《唐诗大辞典修订本》
^ 《中国历代人名大辞典》
^ 《唐诗大辞典》
^ Bynner. An anthology of 320 poems. Discover Chinese poetry in its golden age and some of the greatest Chinese poets.

Works cited

"Liu Changqing (Ryū Chōkei in Japanese)". Britannica Kokusai Dai-Hyakkajiten (in Japanese). Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2014. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
"Liu Changqing (Ryū Chōkei in Japanese)". Daijirin (in Japanese). Sanseidō. 2006. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
Maruyama, Shigeru (1994). "Liu Changqing (Ryū Chōkei in Japanese)". Encyclopedia Nipponica (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2017-01-29.

Ueki, Hisayuki; Uno, Naoto; Matsubara, Akira (1999). "Shijin to Shi no Shōgai (Ryū Chõkei)". In Matsuura, Tomohisa (ed.). Kanshi no Jiten 漢詩の事典 (in Japanese). Vol. 1. Tokyo: Taishūkan Shoten. pp. 104–105. OCLC 41025662.
Watson, Burton (1971). CHINESE LYRICISM: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-03464-4
"Liu Changqing (Ryū Chōkei in Japanese)". World Encyclopedia (in Japanese). Heibonsha. 1998. Retrieved 2017-01-29.