Ge Yi

A Qing woman poet. A native of Haining, Zhejiang province, Ge Yi was said to love study, sitting all day in her upper room to enjoy herself with pen and ink. She pursued painting, calligraphy, chess, and mathematics and was regarded as gifted at all of these. She also was conversant with 'western techniques' and was able, with the use of scientific apparatus, to take measurements of the distances between stars and constellations. Ge's collection, Yuchuang yigao [Jade Window Poems], was noted in the 'Yiwen zhi' of the Qing shi gao [Preliminary History of the Qing Dynasty]. Her poems were selected for the anthology Zhongxiang ci [A Myriad Fragrances], 1690, and the collection was reprinted in a 1794 Baijing lou edition.

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