Writers › Writer / Poet
Sima Xiangru
Western Han rhapsody writer whose Sir Vacuous and Shanglin Park fu won over Emperor Wu, and who eloped with the widow Zhuo Wenjun
Mural of the event “Wenjun at Wine Shop”, which this person took part in.
Set in Shu during the Western Han, the story of Zhuo Wenjun and Sima Xiangru moves from musical courtship and elopement to their shared livelihood in Linqiong, followed by the themes of love and self-respect preserved in later literary tradition.
Also known as Zi Zhangqing · Fu Sheng · Si Ma Zhang Qing
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Sima Xiangru, courtesy name Zhangqing, came from Chengdu in Shu; called Quanzi as a boy, he renamed himself after Lin Xiangru. He served Emperor Jing as a mounted guard, then left on grounds of illness to join the circle of Prince Xiao of Liang, where he wrote the Sir Vacuous Rhapsody (Zixu fu). According to his biography in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), after returning to Shu he won over Zhuo Wenjun, the widowed daughter of the Linqiong magnate Zhuo Wangsun, with his zither playing; they eloped to Chengdu and later ran a wine shop in Linqiong. Emperor Wu read the Zixu fu, summoned him and received the Shanglin Park Rhapsody, making him a gentleman of the palace, and later sent him as an envoy to pacify the southwestern peoples. He ended as keeper of Emperor Wen's funerary park and died at home in Maoling, leaving a text on the feng and shan sacrifices. The bibliography of the History of the Han lists twenty-nine of his rhapsodies.
Life and times
Dates c. 179 BCE–118 BCE
- 150 BCEWenjun at Wine ShopTook part
- 150 BCEZhuo Wenjun Elopement with Sima Xiangru
- 142 BCETavern Keeping in Linqiong
- 130 BCESong of White Hair Severance Letter
- 110 BCEHan Wudi's Mount Tai SummitPrecursor