Wen Tianxiang

Also known as Zi Lushan · Hao Wenshan · Xinguo Gong · Zhonglie · Zi Songrui

Wen Tianxiang, first named Yunsun, courtesy names Lushan and Songrui, styled Wenshan, came from Luling in Jizhou (modern Ji'an, Jiangxi). He took first place in the palace examination of 1256, and when Yuan armies came down the Yangzi in 1275 he spent his family fortune raising troops at Ganzhou. In 1276, with the enemy near Lin'an, he went to the Yuan camp as chief minister of the right to negotiate and was detained; escaping at Zhenjiang, he returned south by sea to keep fighting and was later made Duke of Xin. Captured at Wupoling in 1278, he wrote Crossing the Lingding Sea while being carried past it the next year, and after Yashan he was taken to Dadu. In prison there he wrote the Song of the Upright Spirit (Zhengqi ge) and refused to serve the Yuan until he was executed at the Chai market in January 1283. The Ming court named him Zhonglie in 1456, and his writings were gathered as the Collected Works of Master Wenshan.