Qu Dajun (1630–1696) was a scholar and poet of the late Ming and early Qing. His original name was Qu Shaolong; his courtesy names included Jiezi and Wengshan, and he also used the names Lingjun, Huafu and Saoyu. He was a native of Panyu in Guangdong. His many studio and art names included Luofu shanren, Luofu buyi, Luofu daoshi, Nanhai yimin, Baquanweng, Caipu, Laipu, Feichi, Quduo, Daoyuantang, Si'an, Ershi caotang, Zhongyang tang, Zuxiang yuan, Saosheng tang, Sibai sanshi'er feng caotang and Yiling daoren.
Life
He was a government school student in the late Ming. As a young man he studied under Chen Bangyan; when the Ming fell and Chen raised troops, Qu joined the army and commanded a unit of his own, and after Chen died as a martyr to the Ming cause Qu gave up his student status. Early in the Yongli reign he went to the court at Zhaoqing and submitted the Zhongxing liu dadian shu; he was to be given a post in the palace secretariat, but hurried home when his father fell ill.
In the early Qing he took part in anti-Qing activities together with Wei Geng and others. In the winter of 1650, the seventh year of Shunzhi, he shaved his head and became a monk under Hanshi at Leifeng in Panyu, taking the dharma name Jinzhong and the courtesy name Yiling while continuing to work secretly against the Qing; when this was discovered he returned to lay dress and fled beyond the passes. In middle age he resumed Confucian dress and his original name, remaining a Ming loyalist to the end of his life.
In the autumn of 1657, the fourteenth year of Shunzhi, he crossed the mountains and travelled north, returning to Panyu only in 1662, the first year of Kangxi; he went north again in 1665. His travels took him through Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the northern provinces. In 1673, when Wu Sangui rose against the Qing, Qu moved between the armies of Chu and Yue, but withdrew from the affair when he saw that the cause would fail. In 1679 he took his mother to Jiangnan for safety and, intending to settle in Jiangxi, entered the Cuiwei mountains, where he studied with the scholars of the Yitang group; he returned to Guangdong in the autumn of 1680. In his last years he lived in Guangzhou, devoting himself to writing. He died in 1696, the thirty-fifth year of Kangxi, aged sixty-seven, and was buried at Shating in Panyu. Biographies of him appear in juan 484 of the Qingshi gao and juan 1 of Chen Botao's Shengchao yuedong yimin lu.
His great-granduncle was Qu Qipeng; his father-in-law was Wang Zhuangyou; his wives were Chen Huajiang (1630–1691) and Wang Huajiang; his son was Qu Minghong, and his grandson was Qu Zikui. Among his friends were Chen Gongyin, Zhu Yizun, Wang Hongzhuan, Li Yindu and Huang Sheng, and he and Chen Gongyin were fellow students.
Poetry
Qu Dajun was a skilled poet, ranked with Chen Gongyin and Liang Peilan as the Three Great Masters of Lingnan; among the loyalists of the early Qing he is placed alongside Gu Yanwu and Wu Jiaji. Contemporaries said that his talent was unmatched, and that, having travelled the frontier garrisons and befriended extraordinary men throughout the empire, he wrote poetry on whatever moved him with a spirit that acknowledged no equal; his seven-character regulated verse was lofty and unadorned, while his five-character regulated verse was like red clouds at the edge of the sky or a white crane among the clouds, hard to approach.
Works
His works include the Wengshan shiwai, Wengshan wenwai, Wengshan wenchao, Wengshan yiwai, Guangdong xinyu, Daoyuantang ji, Sichao chengren lu and Anlong yishi; his ci collection is entitled Saoxie, also known as Daoyuantang ci. Modern editors have compiled the Complete Works of Qu Dajun. Many of his books were banned in the Qianlong period.
References
- CBDB Qu Dajun (30190)
- 搜韵 屈大均 (56469)
- Wikidata Qu Dajun (Q11042295)