Yuan Zhongdao (袁中道, Wade-Giles ''Yüan Chung-tao''; 1570–1624) was a Chinese

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

, travel diarist and official was born in Kung-an in Hu-kuang.

History

He shares his fame with two other brothers, Yuan Zongdao (1560–1600) and Yuan Hongdao (1568–1610); they are collectively known as the Three Yuan Brothers. The three brothers dominated the literature of the period. From a family of financial means, they printed and distributed their own works. The youngest of the brothers, Yuan Zhongdao, took years in his pursuit of a civil-service examination degree. The brothers were all openly ambivalent about social position. Yuan Zhongdao spent quantities of money on boats for his extended excursions. His brothers and their families were haunted by disease. Yuan Zhongdao's own life was a story of breakdown at the cumulative stress of family deaths and repeated failure at the

civil service examination Civil service examinations are examinations implemented in various countries for recruitment and admission to the civil service. They are intended as a method to achieve an effective, rational public administration on a merit system for recruiti ...

. Yuan Zhongdao's principal health problem was perhaps

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. Yuan Zhongdao would record extremes of mood within even a daily period suggesting perhaps

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

. Yuan Zhongdao was denied the complete rest he needed for such a condition due to pressing family needs. Yuan's diary, ''Yu chü-fei lu'' (Travels on Board a Boat) is his literary monument. Yuan's precarious physical and psychological condition provided the background for his preoccupation with longevity and stress avoidance. He avoided a Buddhistic

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

diet, perceiving a need for

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

in his diet. Excessive drinking and too many wives were other perceived impediments. His travel diary is full of such detail. Yuan records an early reading of the celebrated novel

Jin Ping Mei ''Jin Ping Mei'' ()—translated into English as ''The Plum in the Golden Vase'' or ''The Golden Lotus''—is a Chinese novel of manners composed in vernacular Chinese during the latter half of the 16th century during the late Ming dynasty (1368 ...

(''The Golden Lotus''). He was likewise associated with the radical philosopher Li Zhi 李贄 (1527–1602) and his espousals of popular literature. Likewise Yuan Zhongdao had the acquaintance of the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

Matteo Ricci Matteo Ricci (; ; 6 October 1552 – 11 May 1610) was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He created the , a 1602 map of the world written in Chinese characters. In 2022, the Apostolic See decl ...

(1552–1610). In 1616 he passed the

Imperial examination The imperial examination was a civil service examination system in History of China#Imperial China, Imperial China administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the Civil service#China, state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureau ...

and obtained a succession of official posts.

Poetry

"Record of a Dream" :The road before me completely dark; :I know not where I am. :Black water vast without bounds; :No raft to sail upon. :Above I cannot see the heavens; :Below I cannot see the earth. :Hear the growl of a mad dog; :Right in my path he faces me and barks. :On all sides not a soul to be seen; :Again I try to seek the road back; :Long and long for my old home. :Black, black are the surrounding pines; :Enter main rooms and hear no voices; :Go through the side rooms and see no one. :Grass is matted and chokes the courtyard; :Wind is mournful and blows all around. :Something or maybe nothing; I'm alarmed. :Going in I can't find anyone; outside all is unclear. :Slowly, slowly, where I've been recedes; :My dreaming soul returns and I sweat like rain.

Prose writings

He was a notable author of the xiaopin, a form of short literary essay.Mair 2001. "Introduction: The Origins and Impact of Literati Culture", paragraph 22.

Bibliography

Books

* Mair, Victor H. (ed.) (2001). ''

The Columbia History of Chinese Literature ''The Columbia History of Chinese Literature'' is a reference book edited by Victor H. Mair and published by the Columbia University Press in 2002. The topics include all genres and periods of poetry, prose, fiction, and drama but also areas not ...

''. New York: Columbia University Press. . (

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edition.)

Articles

* Carpenter, Bruce E., "Yüan Chung-tao and the Seventeenth-Century Life", ''Tezukayama University Review'' (Tezukayama daigaku ronshū), Nara, Japan, no. 64, 1989, pp. 21–37.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuan, Zhongdao 1570 births 1624 deaths People from Gong'an County Ming dynasty poets Ming dynasty essayists Chinese travel writers Ming dynasty government officials Politicians from Jingzhou Poets from Hubei