Writers › Writer / Poet
Han Hong
Tang poet from Nanyang, jinshi of 754 and one of the Ten Talents of the Dali era, whose Cold Food Festival line "no corner of the spring city without flying blossom" won Emperor Dezong's favour.
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 Junping
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Han Hong, courtesy name Junping, came from Nanyang. He passed the jinshi examination in 754 and served on the staffs of Hou Xiyi, military governor of Ziqing, and Li Mian, military governor of Xuanwu. Early in the Jianzhong era his poetry brought him to Emperor Dezong's notice; he was made a director in the Ministry of War with charge of drafting edicts and ended his career as Secretariat Drafter. With Qian Qi, Lu Lun and others he was counted among the Ten Talents of the Dali era. His quatrain Cold Food Festival opens with the line "no corner of the spring city without flying blossom, the east wind of Cold Food bends the palace willows." Meng Qi's Benshi shi tells that, because another official bore the same name, Dezong wrote out this line to make clear which Han Hong he wanted as edict drafter. The Tang tale Liushi zhuan by Xu Yaozuo is built on his parting from and reunion with his concubine Liu.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; jinshi graduate of 754, noticed by Emperor Dezong for his poetry early in the Jianzhong era (c. 780), and rose to Secretariat Drafter