Chen Sanli(23 October 1853 – 14 September 1937) aka Boyan, Sanyuan Laoren, was a Chinese poet who wrote in the classical style in the early modern era. He was born inXiushui,Jiujiang[Kowallis, p. 169]. His father wasChen Baozhen,Qing dynasty governor ofHunan.Along withZheng XiaoxuandShen Zengzhi,he became one of the leading figures of theTongguang school,which was related to but not identical with theSong poetrystyle [Kowallis, pp. 168–208]. From 1889 Chen Sanli served as acivil servant,and with his fatherChen Baozhen(1831-1900), the governor-general of Hunan and an associate of Tan Sitong and Kang Youwei, he ledlocal reforminHunan,which became a model in the minds of reformists for the entire country. After the Empress Dowager suppressed the Hundred Days Reform of 1898, the Chens were forced to leave the government and go into internal exile nearJiujiang.His father died shortly thereafter, which greatly saddened the son. He then moved to a villa he built outside Jinling (Nanjing) called Sanyuan Jingshe (The Sanyuan Retreat), from which Chen Sanli derived his pen-name. After the 1911Xinhai Revolution,Chen Sanli declined to serve in government under the Republic, but he was not a Qing yilao [loyalist] in the classic sense. After theMarco Polo Bridge Incident,he is said to have committed suicide by starvation in protest at the Japanese invasion.
Chen Sanli | |
|---|---|
Trần tam lập | |
 | |
| Born | 23 October 1853 |
| Died | 14 September 1937 |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Parent | Chen Baozhen |
| Relatives | Chen Yinke(son) Chen Shizeng(son) |
Chen Yan,the main theorist of the poetics of the Tongguang school, characterized Chen Sanli's poetry as "obscure and profound" (Sinh sáp áo diễn). Chen Sanli was said to have learned from theNorthern SongpoetHuang Tingjian,but he did not imitate, he developed this style [Kowallis, p. 194]. Many of Chen's poems reflect the chaos and suffering of theChinese peopleduring the early 20th century.
Chen Shizeng,One of Chen Sanli's sons became a famous painter. Another, the historianChen Yinke,was an eminent authority on Buddhism and the institutional history of Tang-era China [Lo and Schultz, p. 351].
Further reading
editKowallis, Jon Eugene von. The Subtle Revolution: Poets of the 'Old Schools' during late Qing and early Republican China. Berkeley: University of California, Institute of East Asian Studies, China Research Monographs #60, 2006.ISBN1-55729-083-0.
Lo, Irving Yucheng and Schultz, William. Waiting for the Unicorn: Poems and Lyrics of China's Last Dynasty, 1644–1911. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986, pp. 350–352.ISBN0-253-36321-7.