Zong Chen (

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

:宗臣, Zōng Chén;1525–1560) was a major

scholar-official The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class. Scholar-officials were politicians and governmen ...

of 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 ...

Name variations

Zong () is his

family name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

, or surname. His given name is Chen (). His

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 ...

was Zǐ Xiàng (). He may also be known by the pseudonym (

hao Hao or HAO may refer to: People * Hao (surname) (Chinese: ) * Hao (given name) * Hao (video gamer), Chinese professional ''Dota 2'' player * Heather O'Reilly, Professional soccer player Places * Hao (city), or Haojing (), capital of the Wes ...

), fāng Chéng Shān Rén ().

Life

The book, ''The Record of Xing Hua''
兴化市志
remains the primary source of bibliographical material on Zong Chen. More sources include internal evidence from articles by or about Zong Chen, and other sources. In 1525, Zong Chen was born in Xinghua (). Disappointed with the corruption of the imperial government, Zong Chen resigned and went back to Xing hua in the year of 1552. He then spent considerable time on reading and writing. In 1560, Zong Chen died at the age of 36.

Works

Zong Chen was a member of

The Latter Seven Masters The Latter Seven Masters () was a Ming dynasty poetry circle composed of Liang Youyu, Li Panlong (李攀龙), Wang Shizhen (王世贞), Xie Zhen, Zong Chen, Xu Zhongxing and Wu Guolun (吴国伦). See also *The Latter Five Poets of the South ...

. At first, when began writing poems, he imitated the style of

Li Bai Li Bai (, 701–762), Literary and colloquial readings, also pronounced Li Bo, courtesy name Taibai (), was a Chinese poet acclaimed as one of the greatest and most important poets of the Tang dynasty and in Chinese history as a whole. He and hi ...

, but failed. His main works include ''Letter To Liu Yizhang'' (报刘一丈书) and many poems.

Influence

Zong Chen's moral as well as his articles have had an important influence on the Chinese culture.

External links

Stories of Zong Chen

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zong, Chen 1525 births 1560 deaths Ming dynasty poets Ming dynasty government officials Writers from Taizhou, Jiangsu Politicians from Taizhou, Jiangsu Poets from Jiangsu