Xu Zaisi (, fl. fourteenth century) was a

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongols, Mongol-led Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Division of the M ...

Chinese poet in ''

sanqu ''Sanqu'' () is a fixed-rhythm form of Classical Chinese poetry or "literary song".Crump (1990), 125 Specifically ''sanqu'' is a subtype of the '' qu'' formal type of poetry. ''Sanqu'' was a notable Chinese poetic form, possibly beginning in the ...

'' style. His

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China China, officially the People's R ...

was Deke (德可). He is said to have relished sweets, thereby adopting the pen name Tianzhai (甜斋, “Sweets Study”). His son Xu Shanchang also achieved reputation. The elder Xu was at least a minor figure in officialdom, holding the rank of Circuit Sub official Functionary for

Jiaxing Jiaxing (), alternately romanized as Kashing, is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province, China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by ...

, his home city.

POEMS

THINKING OF ANCIENT TIMES AT GANLU

:Towers and halls :Of the old temple by the river. :Autumn colors slip into the water. :Green grass by the ruined wall, :Fallen leaves by the empty portico. :Green moss by the half-hidden stairs. :The stranger goes south :As the sun dips westward, :The river toward the east. :Magnolia blossoms stay :As the monks question, :“For whom?”

MOORED AT NIGHT ON AN AUTUMN RIVER

:As the sun sets ten thousand points of evening crows; :West wind, flowering reeds on the banks of the river. :The boat is moored by a river tavern; :And that romantic court minister- :In his dream of green skirts, :A lute.

ON THE RIVER NEAR CHANG MOUNTAIN

:Hills far away, :Hills close; :All a blur of blue-green. :Confusion of stones in the rapids as we sail against the current. :Narrow as if the joined clouds were walls. :Sun sinks, crows at dusk; :West wind and homeward geese. :I sigh because the way is hard. :Blocked here :Then blocked again, :And everywhere fish soup to eat!

References

* Sui Shusen, ''Complete Yuan Dynasty Sanqu Lyrics'', vol. 2, Beijing, 1964, pp. 1021–1060. * Ma Liangchun and Li Futian, ''Encyclopedia of Chinese Literature'', vol. 7, p. 4882. * Bruce E. Carpenter, 'Chinese San-ch'ü Poetry of the Mongol Era: II', ''Tezukayama Daigaku kiyo'' (Journal of Tezukayama University), Nara, Japan, no. 23, pp. 39–41. * Hu Qiaomu, ''The Great Encyclopedia of China'' (Chinese Literature, vol. 2), Beijing-Shanghai, 1986, pp. 1117–1118. * Lü, Weifen
"Xu Zaisi"
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Encyclopedia of China The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, begi ...

'' (Chinese Literature Edition), 1st ed. Yuan dynasty poets Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown Writers from Jiaxing Politicians from Jiaxing Yuan dynasty politicians Poets from Zhejiang {{china-poet-stub