Sa Dula

Life and career

One account describes him as born into a military household but poor in youth; his early examination efforts went poorly, and he made his living through commerce. In the fourth year of the Taiding era (1327), he passed the jinshi examination, received appointment as Yingfeng Hanlin wenzi, served as a jingli in Yannan, and was promoted to censor at the Southern Regional Office.

After impeaching powerful figures, he was demoted to the Zhenjiang lusi darughachi (錄事司達魯花赤); he later rose to shiyushi of the Jiangnan Branch Secretariat (江南行臺侍御史) and was again demoted to jingli of the Huaxi–Jiangbei Circuit (淮西江北道經歷). His other appointments included the censorate zhaomo of the Yannan–Hebei Regional Pacification Office (燕南河北道宣慰司憲司照磨), an administrative post in the Minhai route, a Hebei inspection commissionerate post, and the yibing baihu of the Fujian Branch Secretariat in 1335; the office of Suzheng lianfangsi jingli is associated with both Yannan–Hebei and Huaxi.

The office of Southern Regional Commissioner is dated to the twenty-first year of the Zhizheng era (1361), a date incompatible with the reported death years and therefore chronologically uncertain. He was described as upright and effective in office, unwilling to curry favor with the powerful, and was demoted after offending them.

In later life he lived in Hangzhou and sought out scenic landscapes, walking with a staff, carrying a gourd and bamboo hat, and wearing grass sandals as he explored secluded cliffs and ravines; when inspired, he turned his impressions into verse. He also climbed the Taibai Terrace on Mount Sikong and built a retreat below it. A further account places him in Fang Guozhen’s staff in his later years.

Literature and the visual arts

His prose was vigorous, his poetry fresh and flowing, and his ci lyrics especially strong in historical reminiscence; his reputation was at its height in his own time. His verse combined breadth, force, and refined clarity; later criticism described it as “clear without being frivolous, beautiful without being ornate” and regarded him as opening a new direction in Yuan poetry.

Pieces such as “Yanji qu” (《燕姬曲》), “Guo Jiaxing” (《過嘉興》), and “Zhijin tu” (《織錦圖》) were praised as graceful and fluent, while the regulated poems “Zeng Liu Yunjiang” (《贈劉雲江》), “Yue tai huaigu” (《越臺懷古》), “Ti Lanke shan” (《題爛柯山》), and “Shiqiao” (《石橋》) were praised for their harmony and classical dignity. His works include *Yanmen ji* (《雁門集》), also found under the titles *Sa Tianxi shiji* (《薩天錫詩集》) and *Sa Tianxi ji* (《薩天錫集》); the transmitted texts have variant titles and divergent versions, some poems have been mixed with works in other collections or by anonymous authors, and much of the older corpus has been lost.

Gan Wenzhuan wrote a preface to *Yanmen ji*, and Sa Dula exchanged poems with Huang Jin, Lu Zhi, Ma Zuchang, Zhang Yu, and Li Xiaoguang. He also wrote colophons for paintings and calligraphic works by Li Shixing and Chen Qian, and a work entitled *Sa Tianxi huaping* (《薩天錫畫屏》) is associated with him.

Family

His relatives included his younger brother Sa Lahu-ding, his nephews Sa Zhongli (d. 1377) and Sa Zhongming, and the lineal descendants Sa Longguang (1752–1818) and Sa Lianru. One accompanying account identifies Lianru as Longguang’s daughter and says that Longguang edited a collection of Sa Dula’s poems.