Yuan Mei was a poet and essayist in the Qing Dynasty.

He was named Jianzhai, and in his later years he was named Cangshan layman, master of Suiyuan, and old man of Suiyuan.

Yuan Mei was named Zicai, and he was a true talent. He was one of the representative poets during the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods, and together with Zhao Yi and Jiang Shiquan, he was known as the "Three Great Masters of Qianlong".

Yuan Mei formed his own family of writers and was as famous as Ji Xiaolan, and was called "Southern Yuanbei Ji" at that time.

Yuan Mei's representative prose work "Essays on Sacrifice to Sisters" is sad and sincere, and has been circulated for a long time. Classical prose commentators compare it with "Essays on Sacrifice to Twelve Langs" written by Han Yu in the Tang Dynasty.

(Yuan Mei's sister Yuan Ji was also very knowledgeable. It is said in "Hangzhou Prefecture Chronicles" and "Qing History Manuscripts: Biography of Women" that she died in the 24th year of Qianlong's reign (1759).) Yuan Mei was a well-educated scholar when he was young.

scholar.

When he was nineteen years old, the Zhejiang school inspector Shuai Lan Gao asked him about allusions and asked him: What do you mean by "national horse" and "male horse"? Yuan Mei said: "It comes from "Guoyu" annotated by Wei Zhao. As for what to explain, Mei really

I don’t know.” At this time, Yuan Mei really didn’t know, and his attitude was very humble and honest.

Shuai Langao praised Yuan Mei and said: "You are very young, but it is enough if you know the origin of the two allusions of 'national horse' and 'male horse'. Why do you have to explain it?" Then Shuai asked him again: "'National Horse'

In addition to "horse" and "male horse", there is also "father horse", did you know?" Yuan Mei said: "It comes from "Historical Records Pingzhun Shu". "Shuai said: "Can you use another allusion to match it?

?" Yuan Mei said: "The word 'cow' comes from "Book of Changes: Gua Chuan". Shuai Langao was overjoyed and praised Yuan Mei greatly.

Yuan Mei relied on his talent and learning to pass the imperial examination at the age of twenty-three, and was promoted to Hanlin.

Yuan Mei is the author of "Collected Works of Xiaocang Shanfang"; 16 volumes of "Suiyuan Poetry Talk" and 10 volumes of "Supplement"; 24 volumes of "Xin Qi Xie" and 10 volumes of "Xu Xin Qi Xie"; more than 30 kinds of prose, rulers and tablets.

Yuan Mei's notebook novel "Zi Buyu" is as famous as Ji Xiaolan's "Yuewei Thatched Cottage Notes".

Yuan Mei was also a gourmet and wrote the famous "Suiyuan Food List", an important work in the Qing Dynasty that systematically discussed cooking techniques and dishes from the north and south.

The book was published in the fifty-seventh year of Qianlong (1792).

However, such a great talent, great poet, and great writer who is famous all over the world has only written one poem in his life.

Why is this? Because Yuan Mei hates writing lyrics.

Lyrics must be written according to music and rhyme, and there are many rules. This makes him, who has always advocated the "spiritual theory" in creation, feel that writing lyrics is very restricted.

However, Yuan Mei interacted with friends on weekdays and recited poems to give answers. He did not adhere to the rhythm of poems and often made breakthroughs.

He believes that as long as the meaning can be expressed, the form is not important.

However, when Yuan Mei was thirty-three years old, something happened that gave him the urge to write lyrics, and he wrote the only poem in his life.

The year was 1748. Yuan Mei was the county magistrate in Jiangning County, Nanjing. He purchased "Suiyuan" in Nanjing, and he had some ambitions to become an official.

At this time, his good friend Li Zongdian wrote him a letter from another place, saying: "There is a pretty girl named Wang in my official residence. If you like her, I can give her to you as a concubine."

Seeing this, Yuan Mei immediately hired a boat to Yangzhou. In Yangzhou Guanyin Temple, he met the mother and daughter named Wang.

I saw that this woman was charming and beautiful, with a rosy complexion and a graceful manner. No matter how Yuan Mei looked at her, she was not shy.

Yuan Mei had seen her and wanted to marry her, but she felt that her skin was not too fair, so she didn't make up her mind at the time.

So, he continued to take a boat to Suzhou.

After arriving in Suzhou, I kept thinking about this matter in my mind, and finally decided to marry her again.

So he sent someone back to Yangzhou to have a look.

The messenger came back and reported: "This woman has been married by a small official in Jiangdong." After hearing this, Yuan Mei regretted it endlessly and repeatedly shouted: "Regret, regret, missed!" So he wrote a song "Man Jiang Hong"

, expressing his melancholy: I bear your love and go boating, the morning wind and snow fall.

I remember that when the nunnery door first opened, Chan Juan came out.

The jade hand turns over the red and green sleeves.

The pink fragrance touches the cheeks of the wind.

Ask Da'e why she is not shy? It's hard to explain.

Now that we have said goodbye, we still remember each other.

Revisiting the old, no trace left.

It is said that the little official in Luyang is really guilty.

The beads fall into the palm but are not picked up. Only when flowers are picked can one know how to cherish them.

What's the point of sighing when my eyes are so aloof and aloof all my life? This poem is true and straight from the heart, expressing his regret for losing a beautiful woman.

Yuan Mei had many romantic affairs in his life. He recruited female disciples and went to banquets and singing venues. He bluntly said that he was "looking for flowers and willows" and that he was just "the lustful ear of "Guo Feng"".

When he was sixty years old, he also convened a hundred women in Suzhou and asked them to sing century-old songs and write fan poems for his old acquaintance, the school secretary Ren, which was called "Yahui".

When he was old, he went to the detention center with the county government officials to see the two imprisoned women. Yu Yue laughed at him: "It's ridiculous that Bayuan is imprisoned in Fengfeng. Sir, he also comes here just to see the flowers." Life style

Yuan Mei was criticized by the scholar-bureaucrats at the time for his lack of rigor, but he didn't care about it and still behaved like a famous scholar.

When Yuan Mei was twenty-six years old and still working in the Hanlin Academy, something happened that deeply touched him.

At that time, most of the people in the Hanlin Academy relied on their talents and arrogance.

Of course Yuan Mei is not immune to this bad habit.

One day, a guest insisted on seeing Yuan Mei but refused to give his name.

Yuan Mei asked the gatekeeper to reject him firmly.