Writers › Writer / Poet
Han Ming
Persuader of late Warring States Chu who sought out the Lord of Chunshen and won a place among his retainers with the parable of the old thoroughbred hauling a salt cart.
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 Han Ming of Chu
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Han Ming was a persuader of late Warring States Chu whose dates are unknown; his story is told in the Zhanguo Ce, Chu section 4. He sought an audience with the Lord of Chunshen and waited three months. In conversation he compared the Lord to Yao and himself to Shun, which delighted him, and the Lord registered him as a retainer to be received every five days. Han Ming then likened himself to an old thoroughbred pulling a salt cart up the Taihang mountains until Bo Le wept and covered it with his robe, so that it neighed aloud, and asked to be recognized in the same way. The passage is in the Guwen Cilei Zuan.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active in the late Warring States under the Lord of Chunshen (c. 262-238 BCE)