Yang Wanli(orYang Wan-Li) (Chinese:Dương vạn lí) (29 October 1127 – 1206),courtesy nameYanxiu( diên tú ), was a Chinesepoetand politician, born in Jishui, Jizhou (todayJishui County,Jiangxi). He was one of the "four masters" of the SouthernSong dynastypoetry.
Written during the final exile of the Song toHangzhou,the poems celebrate the beauties and mysteries of nature, flora and fauna, much as the famed Song painters did. But they also querulously and wittily illuminate the annoyances and pleasures of everyday life.
He passed hisjinshiexams in 1154 (24th year of theShaoxing era) and served a number of minor official posts in the Song Dynasty.
Wanli, Yang (1975),Heaven My Blanket, Earth My Pillow: Poems from Sung Dynasty China by Yang Wan-Li(White Pine Press ed.), Weatherhill second,ISBN1-893996-29-8
