Gao Qi

Life

Gao Qi was widely read, skilled in poetry and especially well versed in history. Although Zhang Shicheng, who held the Wu region, valued him highly, Gao refused to serve as his subordinate and lived in retirement at Qingqiu on the Wusong River, calling himself Qingqiuzi; he also took refuge from fighting at Xiaoshan, and his place of origin is sometimes given as Yuanhe.

With Yang Ji, Zhang Yu and Xu Ben he was counted as one of the “Four Talents of Wu” (Wuzhong sijie); his poetic power and tonal command were held to surpass those of the other three, and he was a leading figure of the Yuan–Ming transition. With Wang Xing and others he was also counted among the “Ten Friends of the Northern Suburb” (Beiguo shiyou), and he was reckoned one of the ten literary talents of the early Ming.

Early in the Hongwu reign he was recommended to take part in compiling the History of Yuan, and was appointed compiler of the National History Office and of the Hanlin Academy, and charged with instructing the imperial princes. He was later promoted to vice minister of revenue; declaring himself too young to bear so heavy a responsibility, he resigned and returned home. The year of these appointments is given variously as the first year of Hongwu (1368) or the second.

The Suzhou prefect Wei Guan was executed for rebuilding the prefectural offices on the site of Zhang Shicheng's palace. Gao Qi had written a “beam-raising text” (上梁文) for the building, containing the phrase “coiling dragon and crouching tiger” (龍蟠虎踞); he was suspected of praising Zhang Shicheng and was executed by being cut in two at the waist.

Friends and associates

His friends included Yao Guangxiao, Wei Guan and Huang Benzhong, and he exchanged poems with Ni Zan, Zhou Di, Wang Yi and Chen Ruzhi; he wrote prefaces for Zhou Di's Jingnan changhe ji and Chen Ruzhi's Lüshuiyuan zayong, and colophons for paintings and calligraphy by Ni Zan, Huang Gongwang, Zhao Mengfu, Yu Ji and others. His prefaces, colophons and epitaphs are largely collected in his prose collection, the Fuzhao ji. His nephew was Gao Yong.

Works

His poems were gathered in collections such as Fengtai, Chuitai, Jianguan, Qingqiu, Shengren, Nanlou, Chaxuan, Lujiang and Gusu zayong, from which he made his own selection, the Fouming ji. In the Jingtai period Xu Yong of Wu assembled the Gao Taishi daquan ji, and the Qing scholar Jin Tan of Tongxiang edited and annotated the eighteen-juan Qingqiu ji. His poetry collections include the Gao Taishi daquan ji, Fouming ji, Chaxuan ji and Taishi ji; his prose collection is the Fuzhao ji, and his ci collection the Kouxian ji.

Reputation

After his death friends including Yang Ji, Xu Ben and Zhang Yu wrote poems of mourning. He was acclaimed by Ming writers as the leading poet of the age, and the Qing scholar Zhu Yizun wrote his biography; the Siku quanshu zongmu (四庫全書總目) judged that his genius placed him above all the poets of the Ming, while regretting that he imitated ancient models without ever forming a style of his own.