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Former Shu ci poet who rose from court diarist to Hanlin academician and censor, later served the Later Tang; his lyrics appear in the Huajian 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 Censor Niu
Niu Xiji was a ci poet of the Former Shu, born around 872. He served as a court diarist, then under Wang Yan as Hanlin academician and Vice Censor-in-Chief; after the Shu fell the Later Tang made him deputy military governor of Yongzhou. Fourteen of his lyrics survive, mostly in the Huajian Ji, and his collected writings were known as the Collected Works of Censor Niu.
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdomsborn c. 872 CE; death year unknown
Literature · Lyrics7Niu Xiji was known for his verse; of his two Linjiangxian lyrics one has the line “The moon slants over the river, departing oars stir the morning bell.” When ordered to write a poem on the fall of his old ruler, he blamed neither former nor present lord, and Emperor Mingzong praised his quick, delicate talent.