Cen Shen

Life

His place of origin is variously given as Jiangling in Jingzhou (modern Jingzhou, Hubei), with Nanyang Jiyang as his ancestral home, or as Yangu and Jiangling Prefecture. Born into a declining aristocratic family, he lost his father young and, impoverished in early life, devoted himself to study, read widely in the histories, and excelled at composition.

Kinship terminology differs: one tradition makes Cen Wenben his great-grandfather, Cen Changqian his grand-uncle, and Cen Xi his uncle, while another genealogy lists Cen Wenben and Cen Xi as grandfathers; his father was Cen Zhi, and his son, identified only as Cen Mou, died in 801.

During the Tianbao era he passed the presented examination, although the year is variously given as the third or the fifth year of Tianbao (746), and he was appointed Right Inner Palace Commandant's Military Aide. In 749 he entered Gao Xianzhi's Anxi headquarters as military governor's secretary, travelling between Anxi and Wuwei; in 754 he entered Feng Changqing's headquarters, serving concurrently as a Dali Pingshi and Censor, as judge of the Anxi-Beiting military command, and as deputy fiscal officer, and he made two frontier journeys.

At Lingwu in 757 he was transferred to Right Buque. Under Emperor Suzong he subsequently held the posts of Qiju Sheren, chief secretary of Guo Prefecture, Taizi Zhongyun, Libu Yuanwailang, Kaogong Yuanwailang, Yubu Langzhong, and Kubu Langzhong. After returning to Chang'an, he exchanged poems with Du Fu; Du Fu recommended him for a Buque appointment, which is variously given as Left Buque or Right Buque. His other offices included Dianzhong Shiyushi, judge of the Guansi military command, Hubu Langzhong, Hubu Yuanwailang in charge of the eastern capital office, Zhifang Langzhong, and judge of the Jiannan Xichuan military command.

He became governor of Jiazhou either in 765, the first year of Yongtai, or in 767, the second year of Dali; the recorded tenure falls approximately within 765–768. When Du Hongjian governed western Sichuan, he memorialized Cen Shen for appointment as Zhifang Langzhong concurrently as Censor, placing him on the staff. In the seventh month of 768 he left the Jiazhou post and set out eastward, but military disorder kept him in Chengdu, where he eventually died.

Literary achievement

Cen Shen exchanged poems and prose with Gao Shi, Jia Zhi, Du Hongjian, Liu Yan, Li Qiyun, and Yang Yan. He became famous for frontier poetry and was one of the representative writers of the High Tang frontier-poetry tradition; his poems often depict frontier landscapes and military life, in a bold, magnificent, and adventurous style. He particularly excelled in seven-character song poetry, while his five-character landscape poems were austere and unusual; contemporaries compared him with the Southern Dynasties poets Wu Jun and He Xun.

Works

The ten-scroll Cen Shen Collection is lost. The Cen Jiazhou Collection circulated in seven scrolls, or eight according to another count; the Complete Tang Poems preserves four scrolls of his poetry, and the Supplement to the Complete Tang Poems adds two poems. Transmitted and edited titles include Cen Jiazhou shi, Cen Jiazhou ji, Cen Shen ji jiaozhu, and Cen Shen shiji bian nian jianzhu; another recorded title is Cen jia ji shiji.