Writers › Writer / Poet
Wang Xun
Liang scion of the Wang family of Langya, son of Wang Jian, who rose to palace attendant and died at twenty-six with the posthumous name Wenzi.
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 Zi Huaifan · Childhood name Wenshu
Wang Xun, courtesy name Huaifan, came from Linyi in Langya and was born in 511. His grandfather was Grand Commandant of the Southern Qi and his father rose to Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs under the Liang. Starting as a student at the Imperial College, he became palace library clerk and assistant, tutor to a prince and then chief gentleman of the crown prince, and finally palace attendant, dying in office of illness at twenty-six; he was given his former office posthumously and the name Wenzi. The Yutai Xinyong preserves poems by him such as one written to a prince's order on dancing.
Life and times
Dates 511 CE–536 CE