Qian Qi (钱起, 722-780 A.D.)was a poet of the Tang Dynasty, Han nationality, and a native of Wuxing (now Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province), who was one of the “Ten Talents of the Dali” and the “Champion of the Ten Talents of the Dali”. In his early years, he was unsuccessful in several examinations, but finally he was admitted as a scholar in 751 AD.
He worked as a school secretary and a lieutenant of Lantian County, and later served as a member of the secretary’s staff, a minister of examinations, and a bachelor of Hanlin. He served as a minister of ko-gong, so he was known as “Qian ko-gong”. In the middle of the Dali period of King Daizong, he became a bachelor of Hanlin.
At the turn of Sheng Tang and Zhong Tang, Qian Qi’s poetry was very famous, but most of his poems were about farewell entertainment, lingering on the scenery and decorating the peace, which were far from the social reality. However, his poems were of high artistic level, with a clear and elegant style, especially good at writing scenery, which is an outstanding representative of the poetic style of Dali.
He is a poet with some pride, had the catchphrase “Shen and Song before him, and Qian and Lang after him” because of his poetic achievements, but Qian Qi was very unhappy when he heard it, and actually snorted, “How can Lang Shiyuan be compared with me? ” But no matter what, Qian Qi’s poetry was certainly not simple. Although he had to defy Li Duan in the seat of Guo ambiguous in the side of a horse, he also had a full house of poets in Jianghuai, because of the poetry of the poem, he won the crown of the poetry meeting.
The story of the examination
Once he went to Jingkou with someone and stayed in a hotel, so he was bored and went out for a walk in the bright moonlight. Suddenly, the distant sound of chanting poetry came slowly from the outdoors, and Qian Qi, who usually liked chanting poetry, listened carefully. Somehow, the person recited the same two lines again and again:
At the end of the song, no one could be seen, the river reveals the verdant peaks…
At the end of the song, no one could be seen, the river reveals the verdant peaks…
So, he got up and opened the door and slowly paced out to see who was reciting the poem, but once the door was opened, no one was found! The money heart felt strange, with his very strong memory, immediately remembered the verse, but he did not take it too seriously in his mind.
In 751 A.D., Qian Qi participated in the “Powder Exam” examination, the question is “Xiang Ling Drumming Ser”, asked to write a five-line poem. He knew that the title came from the lines of Qu Yuan’s “Chu Shu – A Long Journey”: “Make Xiang Ling drum the thurible, make Hai Ruo dance Feng Yi”. Because of his extra familiarity with “Chu Shu”, he was naturally very happy; however, when he was really thinking about writing it, he could not finish it for a long time. While hesitating, Qian Qi suddenly remembered that the rhyme of the poem chanted outdoors that night also belonged to the “Jiu Qing” section. Moreover, if he used the rhyme at the end of his poem, wouldn’t it be a perfect match? Thinking of this, he quickly wrote the whole poem and turned it in early.
Li Wei, who was the examiner at the time, took the examination paper in front of him and examined it again and again.
善鼓云和瑟，常闻帝子灵。
冯夷空自舞，楚客不堪听。
苦调凄金石，清音入杳冥。
苍梧来怨慕，白芷动芳馨。
流水传湘浦，悲风过洞庭。
曲终人不见，江上数峰青！
The examiner Li repeatedly shook his head and recited softly, he was completely conquered by the beautiful mood of the poem, and later, while resting in the examination room, he repeatedly sighed with admiration and exclaimed, “Such a subtle and ethereal ending line can only be written with the help of divine objects!”
So Li put Qian in a high position, and in a short time, Qian was awarded the post of schoolmaster. After that, his poems were highly praised by the great poet Wang Wei, who said that Qian’s poems had “high style”. As for later famous poets such as Su Dongpo, Qin Shaoyou and others who used the imagery of “Xiang Ling Drumming Ceremonial”, there were hardly any who did not take Qian Qi’s poem as a model, but actually forgot its earlier origin, the Chu Shu! Because the meaning of those later statements are related to the ethereal meaning of “no one is seen at the end of the song, several peaks on the river green”, rather than the imagery of “Chu Shu – Far Away”.
