Writers › Writer / Poet
Wang Pan
Ming sanqu poet from Gaoyou, known as Xilou, who never held office and is best known for the satirical song on the suona.
Mural of the cultural record “Suona and Drum-and-Wind Bands”, which this person is tied to.
Also known as Zi Hongjian · Hao Xilou
Wang Pan, styled Hongjian and known as Xilou, came from Gaoyou, Jiangsu. He gave up the examinations, never took office, and built a tower west of town where he sang and wrote with friends, hence his name; he also painted and knew medicine. His surviving sanqu, over sixty short songs and nine suites, all in the southern mode, were collected as the Wang Xilou Yuefu, printed in 1551 by his nephew. His Chaotianzi: On the Suona mocks eunuch envoys harassing the people and is often cited in histories of the suona. His Yecai Pu on famine plants was later included in Xu Guangqi's Nongzheng Quanshu.
Life and times
Dates c. 1470 – c. 1530