Writers › Writer / Poet
Yang Zai
Yuan poet of Hangzhou, summoned as a commoner to help compile the Wuzong Veritable Records, later a jinshi of 1315 and one of the Four Masters of Yuan Poetry
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Also known as Zi Zhonghong
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Yang Zai, courtesy name Zhonghong, came of a family from Pucheng in Jianning that had moved to Hangzhou. He lost his father young and read widely, but was past forty and still without office when Jia Guoying of the Ministry of Revenue recommended him several times, and he was summoned as a commoner to the Hanlin and History Academy, where he helped compile the Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong. He was then posted as a clerk to the office in charge of the grain fleets. When Emperor Renzong restored the civil examinations he answered the call at once, became a jinshi in 1315, and served as assistant magistrate of Fuliang and then as judge of Ningguo circuit, where he died in office. Known above all for his poetry, he is counted with Yu Ji, Fan Peng and Jie Xisi among the Four Masters of Yuan Poetry, and his collected works survive as Yang Zhonghong ji.
Life and times
Dates 1271 CE–1323 CE