Cen Shen or Cen Can (), 715–770, was a Chinese poet. He was regarded one of the great Chinese poets during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

. His poems were included in the Three Hundred Poems anthology.

Name

He is also called Cen Jiazhou (). During the reign of Emperor Suzong he was made governor () of Jia Prefecture (''Jiazhou'' in Chinese), which earned him the name Cen Jiazhou.''Kanjigen'' entry "Cen Can" (Shinshin/Shinjin). Gakken 2006.

Life

He was born to a bureaucratic family in Nanyang (in today's

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

), but later moved to Jiangling, Jizhou (in today's

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

). His great-grandfather Cen Wenben, granduncle Cen Changqian and uncle Cen Xi were all chancellors. His father Cen Zhi was Governor (Cishi) of Jingzhou. When Cen Shen was 10, his father died, and the financial situation of his family worsened. After then, Cen learned with assiduity, reading a lot of scriptures and history books. He moved to

Chang'an Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic time ...

when he was 20 and obtained jinshi in 744. In 749, Cen's ambitions led him towards a stint of military service which would last about ten years, where he served as a subordinate to General Gao Xianzhi, and, later, Feng Changqing. In about 751, Cen met Gao Shi and Du Fu, and the three had become good friends. All three were poets. Cen's other friend was the great Tang poet Li Bai, who composed a poem titled "Bring in the Wine", and included a verse which mentioned his friend Cen Shen. ..."To the old master, Cen"... Bring in the wine! Let your cups never rest! Let me sing you a song! Let your ears attend!" Cen Shen lived through the period from 755 through 763 when the An-Shi disturbances shook the land, spreading civil war, disaster, and all sorts of turmoil throughout the northern parts of China. During this period he held several assignments in the Central Asian outposts of the far-reaching Tang empire. Having supported the loyalist cause, he succeeded to a number of provincial posts (primarily in

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

) under the restoration until his retirement in 768. Cen's early poems were always landscape poems, although this is not the case of his later ones. Cen served in the northwest frontier territories area for about ten years, his experience in this area with its harsh climate and the relentless combat of the times made a deep impact on his poetry. One of Cen's poems includes the earliest known reference to ''

Actinidia chinensis ''Actinidia chinensis'' is a fruiting vine native to China. It is one of some 40 related species of the genus '' Actinidia'', and the origin of most commercial varieties of kiwifruit. There are three accepted varieties of the species. ''Actini ...

'' (

kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi), or Chinese gooseberry, is the edible berry (botany), berry of several species of woody vines in the genus ''Actinidia''. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa, ...

), involving a plant growing above a well in

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

Poems

Seven of Cen Can's poems were included in the famous anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems, including: * Ascending the Pagoda at the Temple of Kind Favour with Gao Shi and Xue Ju * A Song of Running-horse River in Farewell to General Feng of the Western Expedition * A Song of Wheel Tower in Farewell to General Feng of the Western Expedition * A Song of White Snow in Farewell to Field-clerk Wu Going Home * A Message to Censor Du Fu at His Office in the Left Court * An Early Audience at the Palace of Light Harmonizing Secretary Jia Zhi's Poem * On Meeting a Messenger to the Capital His collected works are in scrolls (sections) 198 through 201 of the Collected Tang Poems.

References

Bibliography

*Davis, A. R. (Albert Richard), Editor and Introduction (1970), ''The Penguin Book of Chinese Verse''. (Baltimore: Penguin Books). *Liu, Wu-chi and Irving Lo, eds., (1975). '' Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry''. Bloomington: Indiana University. *Wu, John C. H. (1972). The Four Seasons of Tang Poetry. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E.Tuttle.

External links