Writers › Writer / Poet
Qian Weiyan
Northern Song poet of the Xikun style, a son of the last King of Wuyue, Qian Chu; he rose to Commissioner of Military Affairs and was posthumously styled Wenxi.
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 Courtesy name Xisheng · Posthumous title Wenxi
Qian Weiyan, courtesy name Xisheng, came from Qiantang (modern Hangzhou), the seventh son of Qian Chu, last king of Wuyue, and lived 977 to 1034. He followed his father to the Song court and became a Hanlin academician, then Commissioner of Military Affairs in 1020, and in later years governed Henan prefecture, earning the nickname Chief Minister of Luoyang. A follower of Li Shangyin and a leading poet of the Xikun style, he took part in the Xikun chouchang ji; he was given the posthumous title Wenxi, and a Mulanhua of his is in the Three Hundred Song Lyrics.
Life and times
Dates 977 CE–1034 CE