Writers › Writer / Poet
Yan Xuan
Later Shu commoner poet called Recluse Yan, eight of whose song lyrics, among them 'Bapaiman', were taken into the Among the Flowers anthology
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 Yan Chushi
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Yan Xuan lived in the Later Shu state in Sichuan and never held office, so contemporaries called him Recluse Yan. The standard histories record nothing of his birthplace, dates or career; what is known comes from anthologies and later notes. Among the Flowers (Huajian ji), compiled by Zhao Chongzuo in 940, includes eight of his lyrics to tunes such as 'Linjiangxian', 'Hezhuan' and 'Bapaiman', mostly scenes of palace gardens and women's quarters. Wu Renchen's Qing-dynasty Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms (Shiguo chunqiu) repeats an older story that he, Ouyang Jiong, Lu Qianyi, Mao Wenxi and Han Zong entertained the Later Shu ruler Meng Chang with song lyrics and were known as the Five Ghosts.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; Later Shu period