Pan Yue (poet)
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| Chinese | 潘岳 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Pan Yue (Chinese: 潘岳; 247–300[1]), courtesy name Anren (安仁), was a prominent Chinese fu poet in the Western Jin dynasty. He is popularly referred to as Pan An (潘安) and was well known for his good looks from a young age. "Pan An" has become the Chinese byword for handsome men.[2]
Pan's family was from Zhongmou (modern Zhongmu County, Henan).[3] His grandfather Pan Jin (Chinese: 潘瑾) was a governor of Anping (modern Jizhou, Hebei) during the Eastern Han dynasty, and his father Pan Pi (Chinese: 潘芘) served as governor of Langye (near modern Linyi, Shandong).[3] Pan was known as somewhat of a child prodigy in his youth and was known throughout their village in Gong County, Henan for his keen mind and talent.
In late 266, around age 19, Pan moved to the imperial capital at Luoyang and served as an assistant in the Ministry of Works. Despite Pan's ability and handsome appearance, he was unable to advance his career for the next decade. In the early 270s, Pan worked as an aide to Jia Chong, a high-ranking official under Emperor Wu of Jin. By late 278, Pan had become completely disillusioned with official service and retired to the Pan family home in Gong county. Pan came out of retirement around 282 to serve as magistrate of Meng county (modern Mengzhou) north of the Yellow River from Luoyang. He returned to Luoyang in 287 to serve in official positions before being dismissed in 290 for an unknown offense. Around 295, Pan returned to the capital for a final time to serve under official Jia Mi (Chinese: 賈謐). Jia was assassinated in a coup in May 300, and Pan was falsely accused of plotting in a related rebellion against the throne.[4] Pan and his entire family were subsequently arrested and executed,[5] along with Shi Chong and Shi's family.
Book of Jin had this to write about Pan Yue's looks:[6][7]
(Pan) Yue was handsome in appearance and bearing... When he was young, he often strolled about outside Luoyang, holding a slingshot under the arm. Women who met him all surrounded him by hands and threw fruits in his chariot, so when he returned, his chariot was full of fruits.
His most famous works are his three poems to his dead wife, which contain the well-known lines:[8]
We were a pair of birds nesting in the woods. |
如彼翰林鳥， |
| —"Poems Lamenting Her Death" (Dào Wáng Shī 悼亡詩) |
References
[edit]Footnotes
[edit]- ^ Vol.83 of Zizhi Tongjian recorded that Pan Yue, Shi Chong and their families were arrested and executed after Sima Yun's failed rebellion in c.September 300. Sima Lun's biography in Jin Shu recorded that their arrests and executions happened before Sima Yun's rebellion.
- ^ R. Robert Henry Mathews (1943). Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary. Harvard-Yenching Institute. p.140.
- ^ a b Knechtges (2010), p. 698.
- ^ Pan's biography in Book of Jin recorded that he was accused of treason by Sun Xiu, a confident of Sima Lun (Sima Yi's youngest son). In their younger days, Pan had Sun whipped on several occasions. (初，....，孙秀为小史给岳，而狡黠自喜。岳恶其为人，数挞辱之，秀常衔忿。及赵王伦辅政，秀为中书令。岳于省内谓秀曰：“孙令犹忆畴昔周旋不？”答曰：“中心藏之，何日忘之！”岳于是自知不免。俄而秀遂诬岳及石崇、欧阳建谋奉淮南王允、齐王冏为乱，诛之，夷三族。) Jin Shu, vol.55.
- ^ Knechtges (2010), p. 699.
- ^ Song Geng (2004). The Fragile Scholar: Power and Masculinity in Chinese Culture. Hong Kong University Press. p.143-144.
- ^ (岳美姿仪，辞藻绝丽，....。少时常挟弹出洛阳道，妇人遇之者，皆联手萦绕，投之以果，遂满车而归。) Jin Shu, vol.55
- ^ The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry, 2005. p. 74
Works cited
[edit]- Knechtges, David R. (2010). "Pan Yue 潘岳". Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide, Part One. Leiden: Brill. pp. 698–709.
- Williams, Nicholas Morrow (2015). "Pan Yue ji 潘岳集". In Chennault, Cynthia L.; Knapp, Keith N.; Berkowitz, Alan J.; Dien, Albert E. (eds.). Early Medieval Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley. pp. 220–24.
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