Writers › Writer / Poet
Kong Shao'an
Poet of the Sui-Tang transition from Shanyin in Yuezhou, son of the Chen minister Kong Huan, who died in 622 before finishing the History of Liang.
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 Sun-Kong (named with Sun Wanshou)
Kong Shao'an, from Shanyin in Yuezhou, lived from 577 to 622; his father Kong Huan was a Chen minister of personnel, and his cousin Yu Shinan admired his talent. In the last years of Daye he was an investigating censor, was sent to watch Li Yuan's army, and went over to him. Under the Tang he was made drafter in the Secretariat and in 622 was ordered to compile the History of Liang, dying before it was done. His friendship with Sun Wanshou led people to pair 'Sun and Kong'. His pomegranate poem for a banquet is remembered, and he left a five-volume collection.
Life and times
Dates 577 CE–622 CE