Yuan Mei, A National Poet from Hangzhou

Yuan Mei (1716-1797)， a celebrated poet and literary critic of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)， was a native of Hangzhou. He was born in Big Tree Lane near Genshan Gate of Hangzhou， then at the edge of the walled city. When he was 7， the family moved to Sunflower Lane， located in the downtown Hangzhou. He lived there for ten years before moved to another place in Hangzhou.

Yuan Mei was a precocious boy studying at Fuwen Academy at Phoenix Mountain in Hangzhou. At the age of 11， the boy successfully passed the county level examination and became a Xiucai. His scholarly brilliance reached climax in 1739 when the 23-year-old scholar became a Jinshi， a top-degree metropolitan graduate. After a short but unsuccessful stay in the Hanlin Academy， he began working as county magistrate. Most of his magistrate appointments were in counties in Jiangsu Province.

From 1743 to 1745 Yuan Mei worked as magistrate in Muyang County. Nationally， the whole country enjoyed a great degree of prosperity in these years of the rule of Emperor Qianlong， but Yuan Mei found 300，000 people in Muyang starving and officials ruling atrociously. Shortly after he came to the post， Yuan reduced taxes， distributed food from government warehouses， launched water-control projects， battled corruption， and handled lawsuits fast and fairly. The people thought highly of Yuan’s administration.

When he left Muyang， people poured out to streets and waved goodbye. Forty-three years later， he came back to visit Muyang at the invitation of a friend. He was warmly welcomed by representatives from all walks of life 15 kilometers away from the county capital.

Yuan Mei quit his government career at the age of 40. He settled down in Jiangning， a suburb of present-day Nanjing. The residence was called Suiyuan， or Garden of Contentment. It was here that Yuan Mei be made his name as a preeminent critic of poetry.

Yuan Mei， Zhao Yi and Qian Shiquan were big three poets during the period of Emperor Qianlong. Yuan was a high-profiled poet for more than 40 years and wrote over 4，000 poems. His poet reputation is not merely due to the great number of poems he penned， but also due to a creative literary theory he pursued. His poems， largely about his extensive tours and his understanding of history， are an inspirational and freewill breakaway from the stereotypes of the past. His timeless fame largely yields from his “Suiyuan Notes on Poetry”， a multi-volume criticism on poetry， poets of his days and of the past. His poetry critique coincided with literary thoughts of other great names of his time.

Yuan Mei spent his last 41 years at Suiyuan in Jiangning. Over decades， he did some costly landscaping projects on the large compound. After the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)， I visited the garden. About 200 years after Yuan Mei had passed away， the garden retained a big part of its old time grandeur. It still had a very large and tall gate. Inside the garden were a lot of trees and flowers， ponds and houses， pavilions， rockeries， paths. In the back of the garden was a pavilion which allowed me to take a commanding view of the garden. Part of the garden resembled the West Lake， the scenic beauty of his birthplace.

Unfortunately， the garden of significance was demolished when Nanjing began its modern urban scrawl in all directions. Last year I went to Nanjing， I learned to my dismay that the garden was gone.

Though Yuan Mei spent a long period of time away from Hangzhou after he grew up， he visited Hangzhou many times during the long years of his retirement. His 82-volume collection of essays and poetry records about 100 poems about the beauty of the West Lake and his nostalgia of his hometown.

Yuan Mei enjoyed a long life. During his lifetime， he enjoyed his reputation as a master poet， a man of poetic criticism and enjoyed a wealthy and peaceful life. He traveled extensively in southern China. He loved women and taught some female disciples， a practice that caused controversy and even intense hatred. The anecdotes about his relationship with women are legion and can be stuff for novels and dramas. But his was not a trouble-free life. One of his big headaches was that he did not have a son for many years. He had one wife and at least five concubines. But he did not have a son until he was 43. Unfortunately the son died early. Another son came when he was 69.□