Writers › Writer / Poet
Mei Cheng
Western Han rhapsody writer who twice warned the Prince of Wu against rebellion and whose Seven Stimuli started a genre of seven-part prose poems
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 Shu
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Mei Cheng, courtesy name Shu, came from Huaiyin and began as a gentleman attendant to Liu Bi, Prince of Wu. When the prince began to plot rebellion, Mei warned him in writing and, ignored, left for the court of Prince Xiao of Liang. Under Emperor Jing, as Wu and its allies prepared to rise, he wrote again urging the prince to stand down; he was ignored, the prince was destroyed, and Mei became known for his foresight. After the Rebellion of the Seven States the emperor made him commandant of Hongnong, but he disliked provincial office, pleaded illness and returned to Liang, where he was the best rhapsody writer among the prince's guests. After Prince Xiao died he went home, and when Emperor Wu took the throne he sent a padded carriage for the old man, who died on the road. Liu Xie's The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons (Wenxin diaolong) names his Seven Stimuli (Qifa) the first of its kind, and it spawned a genre.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–c. 140 BCE