Qu You (, 1341–1427),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Zongji (宗吉) and self-nicknamed Cunzhai (存齋, "Reading Studio of Existence"), was a Chinese novelist who lived in the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

, and whose works inspired a new genre fantasy works with political subtext of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. Born in Qiantang (錢塘, now

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

), Qu You was famous as an adolescent poet. He became a teacher-official (教諭) in Lin'an (臨安), then promoted to be the Head of Secretary (長史) of the Zhou (周) Kingdom. But at the height of his career, he became implicated in a dispute between the

Hongwu Emperor The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328– 24 June 1398), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Ming, personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, courtesy name Guorui, was the List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, founding emperor of the Ming dyna ...

and Zhu Su and was jailed in 1408. After his release in 1425, he worked as a

tutor Tutoring is private academic help, usually provided by an expert teacher; someone with deep knowledge or defined expertise in a particular subject or set of subjects. A tutor, formally also called an academic tutor, is a person who provides assis ...

in the household of Lord of Ying State (英國公). He was reinstated as an official, but he resigned shortly, never returning to the world of politics again, in action. His works, though entertaining, have undertone that expresses concerns and discontent that he had with the Zhu family and politics of the Ming dynasty.

Works

*''Records by the Trimmed Lamp'' (剪燈錄, ''Jiandeng Lu''): 40 volumes *'' New Stories to Trim the Lamp By'' (剪燈新話, ''Jiandeng Xinhua''): 4 volumes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qu, You 1341 births 1427 deaths Ming dynasty novelists Yuan dynasty people Writers from Hangzhou Chinese male novelists 15th-century novelists 15th-century Chinese writers