MUZIChinese Matrix
Writers › Writer / Poet
Poet-lyricist of the Song-Jin transition, courtesy name Yangao, son-in-law of Mi Fu, detained while on a mission to the Jin and later made Academician Awaiting Orders; his lyrics rank with Cai Songnian's, and he left the Dongshan Ji.
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 Courtesy name Yangao · Style name Dongshan
Wu Ji, courtesy name Yangao and style Dongshan, was from Ouning in Jianzhou (modern Jian'ou, Fujian); his father Wu Shi was a Northern Song jinshi who had governed Suzhou, and Wu Ji was son-in-law of the painter-calligrapher Mi Fu. Sent on a mission to the Jin at the end of the Northern Song, he was detained and then took office under the Jin, rising to Academician Awaiting Orders in the Hanlin; in 1142 he was posted as prefect of Shenzhou and died three days after arriving. His lyrics were ranked with Cai Songnian's as the Wu-Cai style, and Yuan Haowen called him the foremost hand of the dynasty. His Dongshan Ji in ten chapters is lost; his Ren Yue Yuan, beginning 'Nanchao qiangu shangxin shi', is his best-known lyric.
Song
Literature · Lyrics1
Wu JiWu Ji, courtesy name Yangao, of Jianzhou, was a son-in-law of Mi Fu. He wrote verse and prose well, his calligraphy and painting were fine, and he was especially skilled in yuefu, with clear, gentle diction that grieves without wounding. His Dongshan collection runs to ten juan; Dongshan was his own sobriquet.