MUZIChinese Matrix
Writers › Writer / Poet
High Tang poet, courtesy name Xiaotong, jinshi of the Kaiyuan era who rose to Compiler of Historical Records; known for clear, graceful verse such as Spring Boating on Ruoye Creek.
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 Xiaotong · Jitong
Qiwu Qian, courtesy name Xiaotong (also Jitong), was a High Tang poet. After passing the jinshi in the Kaiyuan era he became a collator in the Palace Library, then county lieutenant of Yishou, an attendant at the Jixian Academy, Reminder of the Right, Professor at the Guangwen Academy and finally Compiler of Historical Records. The Heyue Yingling Ji praised his style as clear and graceful and free of vulgarity; the Complete Tang Poems keeps one scroll of his poems, among which Spring Boating on Ruoye Creek is the most widely known.
TangQiwu Qian passed the jinshi on the Yan Di list in the fourteenth year of Kaiyuan, was made commandant of Yishou, then Reminder on the Right, waited upon command at the Jixian Academy, was given a proofreader's post and finally became Compiler. His career ran from county commandant to Compiler.
Qiwu Qian's verse is lofty and steep and rich in fine lines, and he wrote well of the life beyond the world, which no age before him had done in that way. Wang Wei sent him a farewell poem with the line that in a bright age he too had long gone unrecognised and cast aside.