Writers › Writer / Poet

Song Lian

Early Ming scholar-official who tutored the heir Zhu Biao, directed the compilation of the History of Yuan, and died on his way into exile after the Hu Weiyong purge

Also known as Zi Jinglian · Hao Qianxi

Roles: Writer / Poet

Song Lian, courtesy name Jinglian, was known as Qianxi after his family's old home near Jinhua, though he himself settled at Pujiang. A pupil of Wu Lai, Liu Guan and Huang Jin, he declined a Hanlin post in the late Yuan to write in the Longmen hills. After Zhu Yuanzhang took Wuzhou he summoned Song, and in 1360 brought him with Liu Ji, Zhang Yi and Ye Chen to Yingtian, where he taught the classics to the heir Zhu Biao. In 1369 he was made chief compiler of the History of Yuan (Yuanshi), and in 1376 he became Hanlin academician recipient of edicts, retiring the next year. In 1380 his grandson Song Shen was implicated in the Hu Weiyong case; Empress Ma and the heir saved him from execution, and the family was banished to Maozhou instead. He died at Kuizhou the following year and was later canonised as Wenxian. The History of Ming notes that envoys from Korea, Annam and Japan paid gold for copies of his collected writings.

Life and times

1310 CEBornYuan Ming
1381 CEDied

Works

Literature · Prose222
1. Preface Presenting to Student Ma of DongyangMingSong Lian's parting preface for a student from Dongyang, recalling his own hard-won learning
2. History of YuanMingEarly Ming official history of the Yuan under Song Lian, finished in barely three hundred days
3. Preface Seeing Off Chen Tingxue of TiantaiMingSong Lian's farewell to Chen Tingxue: what Sichuan gave his poems, and what lies beyond
4. Record of the River-Viewing TowerMingSong Lian's commissioned record of a Yangtze tower, turning the view into lessons of rule
5. History of Yuan: Basic AnnalsMing
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Literature · Sayings5
1. Tearing Down the Bridge After CrossingMingIdiom from the History of Yuan: discarding one's helpers once the goal is reached
2. Meeting Hardship Calmly: Xu Heng's PovertyMingIdiom from the History of Yuan: meeting hardship with calm composure
3. As If Wading Deep Water and Treading on Ice: the Accession Edict of 1333MingIdiom from the History of Yuan: a young emperor takes the throne as if treading on thin ice
4. Book Box on the Back, Dragging Worn Shoes: Song Lian's Hard Road to LearningMingAphorism from Song Lian's preface for Student Ma: trudging through snow to find a teacher
5. Wind and Rain Dark as Night at the River CrossingMingIdiom from the History of Yuan: Kublai crosses the Yangzi through a dark storm

Song Lian

Life and times

Works

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