Writers › Writer / Poet
Nalan Xingde
Son of the grand secretary Mingzhu, a jinshi of 1676 and imperial guard, author of the Yinshui ci and the Cemao ci
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 Nalan Rongruo · Chengde · Rongruo · Nalan Chengde · Yinshui Ciren
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Nalan Xingde, originally named Chengde, courtesy name Rongruo, was born in 1655, the son of the grand secretary Nalan Mingzhu. He passed the jinshi examination in 1676 and served as a first-class imperial guard. At twenty-four he compiled the Cemao ci, the Yinshui ci followed in 1678, and the Tongzhitang ji was compiled after his death by Xu Qianxue and others. He wrote poetry and was a skilled rider and archer; his lyrics are delicate and graceful, and Wang Guowei praised him as the only one since the Northern Song. He died in 1685, aged thirty.
Life and times
- 1655Born
Qing - 1685Died
Works
Literature · Lyrics4- Magnolia Blossom: Ancient Severing Words for a FriendQingNalan Xingde's lyric on love's betrayal, drawing on Lady Ban and the oath of Xuanzong
- Everlasting Longing: A Stretch of Mountains, a Stretch of RiversQingNalan Xingde's lyric on the Kangxi Emperor's tour beyond the passes, homesick in a snowy camp
- Sands of the Washing Stream: Who Mourns in Chilly West WindQingNalan Xingde's elegy for his wife Lady Lu, recalling playful games now lost to the west wind
- Gathering Mulberry: The Moon in Tender Pity Must Smile at MeQingNalan Xingde's lyric of a lonely moonlit walk, too pained to speak of the past
- Literature · Sayings1
- Thought Commonplace at the TimeQingFamous line from Nalan Xingde's elegy for his wife: joys once thought ordinary