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Xin Qiji

Southern Song ci poet and commander who raised troops under Jin rule as a young man, came south, and left more than six hundred lyrics

Also known as Zi Youan · Hao Jiaxuan · Jiaxuan Jushi · Zhong Min

Xin Qiji, courtesy name You'an, sobriquet Jiaxuan, came from Licheng near Jinan and was born in the north under Jin rule. In 1161 he gathered two thousand men to join Geng Jing's rising as his secretary, and the next year, on a mission south, learned that the turncoat Zhang Anguo had murdered Geng; he rode with fifty horsemen into the Jin camp, seized Zhang and brought him back for execution. In the south he submitted the Ten Memorials on Humble Policy and the Nine Proposals on recovering the north, and as pacification commissioner of Hunan he created the Flying Tiger Army before taking the same post in Jiangxi. Repeatedly impeached, he spent long years in retirement at Daihu in Shangrao and at Piaoquan in Yanshan, with brief recalls to Shaoxing and Zhenjiang. He died at Yanshan in 1207 and was later given the posthumous name Zhongmin. His six hundred-odd surviving ci lyrics, more than any other Song poet's, are collected as Long and Short Lines of Jiaxuan (Jiaxuan changduanju).

Life and times

  1. 1140 CEBornSong
  2. 1207 CEDied

Works

  1. Literature · Sayings19
    1. Golden Spears and Armored HorsesSongIdiom popularized by Xin Qiji's Beigu Pavilion lyric: martial might, or a soldier's life
    2. The Rise and Fall of a Thousand Ages at Beigu PavilionSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's Nan Xiang Zi: musing on ages of rise and fall at Beigu Tower
    3. Sun Quan Holds the Southeast FirmSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's Nan Xiang Zi: praising young Sun Quan's firm hold on the southeast
    4. On the Verge of Speaking, Then Holding BackSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's Ugly Slave: sorrows too deep to put into words
    5. There, Where the Lantern Light Grows DimSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's Lantern Festival lyric: the quiet spot where the lights grow dim
    6. +14 more
      1. Turning Back Suddenly Amid the Fading LanternsSongLine from Xin Qiji's Lantern Festival lyric: the one you seek, found at a sudden glance back
      2. The East Wind Sets a Thousand Trees of Lanterns AblazeSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's Lantern Festival lyric: lights like a thousand trees in bloom
      3. Forcing Talk of Sorrow to Compose New VerseSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's Chou Nu Er: the young poet who fakes sorrow for a new song
      4. To Settle the Sovereign's Affairs of the RealmSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's Po Zhen Zi: the dream of finishing the work of reunification
      5. Searching the Crowd a Thousand Times on Lantern NightSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's Lantern Festival lyric: the long search through the crowd
      6. Sadly, White Hair Has GrownSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's Pozhenzi: the hero's dream ends in white hair
      7. What a Cool and Lovely Autumn DaySongFamous line from Xin Qiji's Chounuer: talking of the weather to hide deep sorrow
      8. Youth Knows Nothing of Sorrow's TasteSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's Chounuer: youth that has never truly tasted sorrow
      9. Lian Po Has Grown Old, but Can He Still EatSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's Yongyule at Beigu Pavilion: old, but still ready to serve
      10. Swallowing Ten Thousand Li with a Tiger's MightSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's lyric at Beigu Pavilion, on a general's unstoppable might
      11. A Son Should Be Like Sun Quan of WuSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's Nan Xiang Zi, borrowing Cao Cao's praise of young Sun Quan
      12. Drunk, I Trim the Lamp to Gaze at My SwordSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's Po Zhen Zi: an idle warrior who still dreams of battle
      13. Green Hills Cannot Hold the River BackSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's lyric written on a wall at Zaokou: a current no mountain can stop
      14. All the Old Glory Swept Away by Rain and WindSongFamous line from Xin Qiji's lyric at Beigu Pavilion: heroic glory erased by time
  2. Literature · Lyrics16
    1. Breaking the Battle Array (Composed for Chen Tongfu)SongXin Qiji's martial ci for Chen Liang, from dreams of battle back to grey-haired frustration
    2. Yong Yu Le (Meditation on the Past at Beigu Pavilion in Jingkou)SongXin Qiji's late ci at Beigu Pavilion, invoking history to warn against a rash northern war
    3. Green Jade Cup (Lantern Festival)SongXin Qiji's Lantern Festival ci, whose close Wang Guowei took as the third stage of achievement
    4. Chou Nu Er (Inscribed on the Wall on the Way to Boshan)SongXin Qiji's ci on a roadside wall in retirement: youth's borrowed sorrow against age's silence
    5. Tune: Xi Jiang Yue — Walking the Huangsha Road at NightSongXin Qiji's rural lyric from retirement at Shangrao: a summer night walk and a promised harvest
    6. +11 more
      1. Tune: Pu Sa Man — Written on the Wall at Zaokou, JiangxiSongXin Qiji's ci at Zaokou, where the Gan River carries memories of the Jin invasion
      2. Tune: Nanxiang Zi — Thoughts on Climbing Beigu Pavilion at JingkouSongXin Qiji's short ci at Beigu Pavilion praising Sun Quan, a rebuke to the timid Song court
      3. Zhu Yingtai, Short Measure · The Parted HairpinSongXin Qiji's mid-length ci in a woman's voice, grieving that spring brought sorrow and left it
      4. Congratulating the Bridegroom · Hearing the Shrikes in the Green TreesSongXin Qiji's long ci seeing off a younger kinsman, piling up the great partings of history
      5. Charm of Niannu · Flowers Fall by the Wild PondSongXin Qiji's long ci written on a village wall at Dongliu, where he once said goodbye
      6. Spring in the Han Palace · Spring Has Come BackSongXin Qiji's long ci on the Beginning of Spring, its banners shadowed by a sorrow none can untie
      7. Congratulating the Bridegroom · The Phoenix-Tail PlectrumSongXin Qiji's long ci on the pipa, threading its old stories into a lament for lost splendour
      8. Water Dragon Chant · A Thousand Li of Clear Autumn over ChuSongXin Qiji's long ci from a Jiankang pavilion: an idle sword, slapped railings and a hero's tears
      9. Groping for Fish · How Many More Storms Can Spring BearSongXin Qiji's long ci on spring slipping away and a slighted beauty, written at a farewell feast
      10. Magnolia Blossom, Slow · Old Age Dulls the Taste of FeelingSongXin Qiji's long ci seeing off a colleague named Fan at Chuzhou, with hopes for him at court
      11. Partridge Sky · Pillow and Mat Cool in the Stream HallSongXin Qiji's short ci after an illness: a cool stream hall, drunken lotuses and a weary heart

Records

Xin Qiji and His Songs in Uneven Lines

Southern Song

Xin Qiji, courtesy name You'an, was a man of Licheng in Qi. He was skilled at lyrics in uneven lines, in a stirring and intense manner, and his collection, the Jiaxuan ji, circulated in his time.

References (1)