Qian Qianyi

Life

In 1610, he passed the metropolitan examination and was the third candidate in the first rank, the tanhua. That year he was appointed a compiler in the Hanlin Academy; in 1621 he became You Zhongyun and served as chief examiner for the Zhejiang provincial examination. He later served as daily lecturer at the Classics Banquet and as Shao Zhanshi. In the first year of the Chongzhen reign (1628), he became Zhanshi and Vice Minister of Rites, also serving as a Hanlin reader-in-waiting; he was dismissed and returned home after an incident.

His literary reputation made him a leading figure in the southeast and a major Donglin figure. Politically, he maintained close ties with the Donglin and Fushe movements, but was also marginalized by Zhou Yanru. Late in the Ming, he entered into a union with the famous courtesan Liu Rushi, which provoked controversy; the relationship is also classified as that of a concubine. He built the Jiangyun Tower, whose library was exceptionally large.

During the reign of the Hongguang emperor of the Southern Ming, he was recalled as Minister of Rites. After Qing troops crossed the Yangtze, he went out of the city to surrender. Under the Qing, he was appointed Vice Minister of Rites, served as an Academician of the Secretariat, and joined the compilation of the History of Ming; he left office after five months. After returning home, he secretly resisted the Qing with Zheng Chenggong and others and helped link restoration forces in southeast and southwest China. He was later imprisoned twice in connection with major cases, but survived both episodes. The Jiangyun Tower later burned, and its books were reduced to ashes; his later years were marked by decline.

Literary and scholarly work

He surveyed history and Buddhism broadly, and his poetry and prose were highly accomplished; works written after he entered the Qing often carried constrained and aggrieved tones. His poetry was expansive and vigorous, taking Du as its principal model while ranging across Han and Su. He, Wu Weiye, and Gong Dingzi were known as the Three Greats of Jiangzuo. He wrote only a few ci poems, found in *Youxue ji*.

His writings include *Chuxue ji* (《初學集》), *Youxue ji* (《有學集》), *Guochu qunxiong shilüe* (《國初群雄事略》), *Toubi ji* (《投筆集》), and *Du shi jianzhu* (《杜詩箋注》)); he also compiled *Liechao shiji* (《列朝詩集》). The titles are listed as 110 juan for *Chuxue ji*, 50 juan for *Youxue ji*, and 81 juan for *Liechao shiji*.

Influence

At the turn of the Ming and Qing, Qian Qianyi was regarded as a leading master of the literary world and is described as having led it for about fifty years. The Qing Gaozong, the Qianlong Emperor, placed him in the *Erchen zhuan* (《貳臣傳》), ordered his poetry and prose suppressed, and had his books burned; repeated prohibitions nevertheless failed to end their circulation. Chen Yinke called him a “hero of national restoration,” argued that his earlier lapse should be forgiven and his later attempt at atonement commended, and held that his poetry and Liu Rushi’s were sufficient to “affirm the spirit of our nation’s independence and the thought of freedom.”