Zheng Yuanyou (1292–1364) was a Yuan-dynasty writer and Confucian educational official. His courtesy name was Mingde and his sobriquet Shangzuosheng. His native place is given as Suichang in Chuzhou or Wu County; he lived in Qiantang. His father, Zheng Xiyuan, moved the family to Qiantang. He had three sons: Zheng Ji, Zheng Qi, and Zheng Zhen, respectively the eldest, second, and third.
Life
Yuanyou was perceptive in youth and applied himself diligently to study. When his father moved to Qiantang, elders of the Xianchun period were still living; Yuanyou visited them, raised questions, sought out hidden learning, gained substantially, and took pride in his unusual spirit. After his father died, he lived as an émigré in Pingjiang, where scholars gathered around him.
Provincial and censorial officials repeatedly recommended him for his hidden virtue. Because of an ailment in his arm, he did not wish to enter office and spent nearly forty years in Wu. In the dingyou year of the Zhizheng era (1357), he was appointed Professor of Confucian Learning for Pingjiang Route; after one year, he left because of illness. Seven years later, he was promoted to Superintendent of Confucian Learning in Jiangzhe Province. He served for nine months and died in office in the twenty-fourth year of Zhizheng (1364), aged seventy-three.
Calligraphy and literary activity
As a child, Mingde injured his right arm when his wet nurse's hand slipped. When grown, he wrote regular script with his left hand, mastering its rules completely; this was acclaimed as an extraordinary feat, and he consequently adopted the sobriquet Shangzuosheng. His prose was expansive and forceful, in the manner of ancient masters; his poetry was elevated and archaic.
At the literary and drinking gatherings held at the Yushan Master's cottage, leading figures assembled, and Yuanyou was often entrusted with composing commemorative accounts and prefaces. In Eastern Wu, some stone inscriptions valued his writings rather than official position. During Zhang Shicheng's occupation of Pingjiang, many southeastern literati attached themselves to him; Yuanyou was regarded as a leading elder of the time.
He wrote the preface to the *Jingnan Changhe Collection* for Zhou Di and Ma Zhi, composed epitaphs for Su Dayian and Chen Zheng among others, and was admired and esteemed by Shen You.
Works
His works include *僑吳集* and *遂昌雜志*; the latter also appears as *遂昌山樵雜錄*. Late in life, he compiled his writings and gave the collection to Xie Hui. Because he had lived in Wu for a long time and produced more there than in Hangzhou, he called it *僑吳集*.
References
- CBDB Zheng Yuanyou (27965)
- 搜韵 鄭元祐 (40656)
- Wikidata Zheng Yuanyou (Q16904416)