Wang Zhihuan

In thisChinese name,thefamily nameisWang.

Wang Zhihuan(traditional Chinese:Vương chi hoán;simplified Chinese:Vương chi hoán;pinyin:Wáng Zhīhuàn;688–742), alternatively transliterated asWang Tsu-huan,was aChinese poetof theKaiyuan eraof Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. He is best known for hisjueju"Climbing Stork Tower" (Đăng quán tước lâu).

Poetry

No collection of Wang's poems seems to have been made. Only six of his poems survive, all of which are quatrains, but almost every one has become a minor classic.

Two poems were included in the famous poetry anthologyThree Hundred Tang Poems,translated byWitter Bynneras "At Heron Lodge" (also called "On the Stork Tower", a five-character-quatrain) and "Beyond the Border", a folk-song-styled-verse.

Famous competition at the wine shop

Wang Zhihuan was once involved in a famous incident at a wine shop with fellow poetsGao ShiandWang Changling,in which they agreed to compete as to which of their poems would be most sung by the professional entertainers who happened to show up in the course of that evening's entertainment. Towards the beginning of the evening, one performer happened to sing one of Wang Changling's poems. Not too long after that, another performer sang one of Gao Shi's poems. And, then another performer recited another lyric of Wang Changling's. The performance then went on, with one for Gao Shi, two for Wang Changling, and none for Wang Zhihuan. It so happened that one of thefemale entertainersknown as the most beautiful finally gave her performance: she delivered a piece, based on a poem of Wang Zhihuan's (this was the one, which, much later,Witter Bynnertranslated as "Beyond the Border" ).

See also

• Tang poetry
• Three Hundred Tang Poems

References

• Owen, Stephen.The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High Tang.Revised Edition. Melbourne: Quirin Press, 2013.
• Wu, John C. H. (1972).The Four Seasons of Tang Poetry.Rutland, Vermont: Charles E.Tuttle.ISBN978-0-8048-0197-3

Further reading

• Bu Dong bặc đông.Wang Zhihuan de liangzhou ciVương chi hoán đích lương châu từ.Wenxue yanjiu1958.2.
• Varsano, Paula. "Enduring Pleasures". InProceedings of the American Philosophical Society,Vol. 151, No. 2 (June 2007), pp. 211-217.

External links

• "Wáng Zhīhuàn 688-742".Mountain Songs.
• Works by Wang ZhihuanatLibriVox(public domain audiobooks)