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Jiang Jie

Late Song lyricist from Yixing who passed the jinshi in 1274, refused to serve the Yuan, and is remembered for his lyrics on cherries and plantains and on listening to rain

Also known as Zi Shengyu · Hao Zhushan · Zhushan Xiansheng

Jiang Jie, courtesy name Shengyu, sobriquet Zhushan, came from Yangxian, present-day Yixing in Jiangsu, and passed the jinshi examination in 1274. Two years later Yuan armies took Lin'an before he had taken up any post, and he withdrew to Zhushan by Lake Tai, declining every Yuan recommendation; scholars called him Master Zhushan. A line in his *Yijian mei* written while crossing Wujiang, about time slipping by as the cherries redden and the plantains turn green, earned him the nickname 'Cherry Jinshi'. His *Yu meiren* on listening to rain traces a whole life through three nights of rain, in youth, in middle age and in old age after the fall of the dynasty. Some ninety of his lyrics survive as *Zhushan ci*, which the Qing imperial catalogue praised for exact diction and harmonious tones.

Life and times

  1. c. 1245 CEBornSongYuan
  2. c. 1305 CEDied

Works

  1. Literature · Lyrics5
    1. Congratulating the Bridegroom · A Cold Dream of the Golden HouseSongJiang Jie's long ci of a woman from a vanished court, whose songs of a golden age no one hears
    2. A Spray of Plum Blossoms · Spring Thoughts: A Stretch of Spring SorrowSongJiang Jie's mid-length ci of a boat on the river, longing for home as the season runs on
    3. Joy of Lasting Meeting · Green Shade: Coolness Presses on the Pool PavilionSongJiang Jie's long ci of deep early-summer shade, spring gone and an old house hard to know
    4. Auspicious Crane Immortal · Dark Mist Hides the GeeseSongJiang Jie's long ci of moonlight over a town, old joys gone like a dream and the tunes changed
    5. The Daoist Priestess · Orchid Blossoms in FragranceSongJiang Jie's long ci setting a thin Lantern Festival today against the splendour of old