Writers › Writer / Poet
Liu Xijun
Daughter of Liu Jian, Prince of Jiangdu, married in 105 BCE to the king of Wusun as the first named Han princess sent in a diplomatic marriage; author of the Song of Sorrow.
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 Princess of Wusun · Princess of Jiangdu · Princess Xijun
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Liu Xijun was the daughter of Liu Jian, Prince of Jiangdu, and is known as the Princess of Jiangdu and the Princess of Wusun. In 105 BCE Emperor Wu of Han sent her in a marriage alliance to Liejiaomi, kunmo of the Wusun, to unite against the Xiongnu. Homesick in a foreign land, she composed the Song of Sorrow, also called the Song of the Yellow Swan, and is regarded as the first named poet among marriage-alliance princesses. After Liejiaomi died, she remarried his grandson Junxumi under Wusun custom, and she died in the Western Regions in 101 BCE.
Life and times
Dates 130 BCE–101 BCE