Cen Shen or Cen Can (), 715–770, was one of the great Chinese poets of the

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

. His poems were included in the

Three Hundred Poems The ''Three Hundred Tang Poems'' () is an anthology of poems from the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907). It was first compiled around 1763 by Sun Zhu (1722–1778Yu, 64–65), who was a Qing Dynasty scholar and was also known as Hengtang Tuishi ( ...

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 (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

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

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The pr ...

). 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 (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin ...

when he was 20 and obtained

jinshi ''Jinshi'' () was the highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace, and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. Recipients are sometimes referr ...

in 744. In 749, Cen's ambitions lead 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 (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of th ...

) 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.Davis, xi

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