Writers › Writer / Poet
Wu Ji
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.
Life and times
Dates Birth year unknown; died 1142 CE