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Tang Wan

Lu You's first wife, forced into divorce and remarried to Zhao Shicheng, whose reunion with him at Shen Garden underlies the lyric 'Phoenix Hairpin'.

Also known as Lady Tang (Lu You's first wife)

Lady Tang was Lu You's first wife. Song-dynasty notes call her only 'Lady Tang'; the given name Wan appears only in much later writings and has since become standard. According to Liu Kezhuang, Chen Hu and Zhou Mi, the couple were devoted, but Lu You's mother disliked her and forced a divorce, after which she married Zhao Shicheng, a member of the imperial clan from the same prefecture. Zhou Mi relates that in spring of the yihai year she met Lu You by chance at Shen Garden in Shanyin and sent him wine and food, prompting him to inscribe 'Phoenix Hairpin' on the garden wall. Zhou Mi calls her the daughter of Tang Hong, though scholars dispute this; her dates are unknown.

Life and times

Dates Dates unknown; by Zhou Mi's account she met Lu You again at Shen Garden in 1155

EraSong