Chen Wenzhu (his birth year is variously given as 1525 and 1535; he died in 1595) was a Ming official and poet. He was styled Yushu and used the sobriquet Wuyue Shanren; his generation designation was San, and an erroneous form of his name is 陳夕矚. He was from Mianyang in Huguang's Chengtian Prefecture (湖廣承天府沔陽州), also rendered as 沔陽鎮.
Life
He was the second son of 陳栢 (also written 陳柏); his grandfather was 陳泮, his great-grandfather 陳瓚, and his mother 任氏. His elder brothers were 陳文炳 and 陳文爕; his younger brothers were 陳文煃, 陳文煬, 陳文烱, 陳文爌, and 陳文烜; his wife was 童氏.
As a young man he was regarded as talented and was favored by his kinsman 傅頤; as a 國子生, he placed seventh in the 1558 Huguang provincial examination and became a juren. In the 1565 yi-chou metropolitan examination he ranked 342nd, then placed 101st in the third class at the palace examination, passed as a jinshi, and entered the Ministry of Personnel for observation (吏部觀政).
In the eighth month of 1565 he was appointed to the Court of Judicial Review as a 評事; in the ninth month of the following year he became 寺副, in the second month of 1569 寺正, and in the fourth month of 1570 prefect of Huai'an. In the first month of Wanli 2 (1574) he became Sichuan vice educational commissioner (四川提學副使); in the eleventh month of Wanli 5 he was promoted to 山東左參政 and transferred to the transport and grain-storage circuit, then returned home in mourning. In the second month of Wanli 11 he was reappointed Sichuan 左參政; in the twelfth month he became Fujian 按察使, in Wanli 12 right provincial administrative commissioner, and in Wanli 14 Jiangxi 左布政. In the sixth month of Wanli 17 he became prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, and in the first month of Wanli 18 he reached the rank of Nanjing 大理寺卿, also abbreviated 南大理寺卿.
In the ninth month of Wanli 19, Wu Zhipeng (吳之鵬), a Nanjing Household Section supervising secretary (南京戶科給事中), impeached him, alleging that he had accepted illicit money from 徐繩勳 and had been lenient toward the killing of 徐堯年 by his yinan, 楊鳳; in the tenth month he was ordered to return home pending inquiry and retired. He died in 1595 at the age of sixty.
Scholarship and writings
He was learned and skilled in poetry; his works include 《二酉園集》, and he compiled 《淮安府志》. Works listed under his name include 《二酉園詩集》 in twelve juan, 《二酉園文集》 in fourteen juan, and 《二酉園文集續集》 in twenty-three juan; variant titles include 《二酉園》 and 《五嶽山房集》.
He was a friend of Wu Cheng'en (1504–1582); they jointly revised 《花草新編》, for which he also wrote a preface. He also wrote prefaces for works by 王守仁, 李夢陽, and 何景明.
References
- CBDB Chen Wenzhu (130797)
- 搜韵 陳文燭 (51231)
- Wikidata Chen Wenzhu (Q45547359)
- 法鼓佛教人名规范数据库 陳文燭 (A009366)