Wang Shizhen 1634-1711

Qing-dynasty poet. Wang Shizhen was born into a family from Xincheng in Shandong province. His official career was highly successful, culminating in his appointment as president of the Censorate in 1698 and of the Board of Punishments in 1699. Wang published his first collection of poetry at the age of fourteen, and already had an established reputation by 1661. In addition to producing some twenty collections of his own poetry, he also edited several anthologies of verse and formulated a theory of poetry based on the concept of shenyun or, simply, fusion of objective reality with the subjective mood of the poet. His devotion to books was legendary in his own time.

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