MUZIChinese Matrix
Writers › Writer / Poet
Western Jin woman writer styled Lanzhi, sister of Zuo Si and noble consort of Emperor Wu, whose rhapsody and poems voice her grief in the palace.
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 Noble Lady Zuo
Zuo Fen, courtesy name Lanzhi, was a Western Jin writer, a sister of Zuo Si, who was taken into the palace and made noble consort of Emperor Wu, Sima Yan, and so known as Noble Lady Zuo. She wrote rhapsodies and poems, among them the Lisi Fu, the Zhuomu Shi and the Ganli Shi, mostly on the grief of separation from her family after entering the palace. She was born around 253 and died in April 300.
Three Kingdoms
JinZuo Fen loved learning from youth and wrote well, her fame second only to Zuo Si's, and when Emperor Wu heard of it he took her into the palace. In the eighth year of Taishi she was named Xiuyi, and later became Guibin; plain in looks and without favor, she was treated with respect for her talent and virtue.
Zuo Fen wrote the Parting Thoughts Rhapsody on imperial command; when Empress Yuan Yang died she presented a eulogy; after the second year of Xianning she was told on the spot to compose a hymn. The emperor valued her style, and whenever rare gifts arrived from afar he ordered her to write a rhapsody or hymn, so she was often rewarded.
