Wang Wei (Gējì)

Wáng Wēi (Chinese: 王微; 1597–1647), also known by her courtesy name Xiūwēi (Chinese: 修微),^[1][2] was a Chinese Gējì, poet, and traveller during the late Ming dynasty.^[3]

Nothing is known of her family background, other than that she was from Yangzhou. At the age of seven, Wang's father died, leaving her orphaned without any family support.^[3] The change in circumstances let to her entering a song and dance venue, where she was trained as Geji.^[4] The training included literacy and artistic skills.^[3] During this time, she developed a friendship with another Geji, Yang Wan [zh], the two calling themselves "sworn sisters" due to their similar backgrounds.^[3][5] When Wang Wei married the military official and scholar Mao Yuanyi [zh], Yang Wan became his concubine.^[6]

Wang referred to herself as the "Straw-coated Daoist".^[7] As a Geji she travelled by skiff between Suzhou and Kuaiji (now Shaoxing). The boat carried many books and she was often accompanied by well known literary figures of the day,^[8] including Zhong Xing and Tan Yuanchun, founders of the Jingling school of poetry.^[9] She also travelled to West Lake in Wulin (now Hangzhou),^[10] a hotspot for literati at the time, and as far as Hunan.^[11] Wang Wei was renowned for her outstanding poetry, leading to her being called the "Female Editor" (女校書).^[12]

Wishing to change her life, she turned to Buddhism and started to travel, dressed in a simple cotton robe. During her travels she climbed to the peaks of Mount Dabie, Mount Xuan, Mount Tianzhu, Mount Kuang and Mount Lu. After travelling she settled in Wulin. She intended to spend the rest of her life there and prepared a tomb for her eventual death.^[8] As the Ming dynasty began to crumble, leading to widespread violence and a breakdown of social norms, she turned away from Buddhism.^[8]

Wang married a Censorate official, Xu Yuqing [zh]. Xu was a man of integrity, and was later dismissed from his post after disagreements with the Chongzhen Emperor. The couple were uprooted after Ming fell in 1644, and moved around the south. Although the couple vowed to live and die together, when Wang died of an illness in 1647, Xu lived on to mourn her.^[13]

Wang was a writer and anthologist of travelogues.^[14] She is known to have written several hundred,^[15] perhaps partly as a commercial venture catering to the late Ming travel boom.^[11] One of these, Ming shan ji (Records of the Famous Mountains), ran to several hundred chapters.^[9] Other works of Wang's include "Yueyuan Poetry Collection" (樾媛诗集), "Yuanyoucao" (远游草), "Qishancao" (期山草), "Famous Mountain Records" (名山记), "Yuanyou Manuscript" (远游稿), "Fushantingcao" (浮山亭草), "Yueguan Poetry Collection" (樾馆诗集)", and "Selected Unburned Manuscripts" (未焚稿选).^[16][17][18] While much of Wang's poetry dealt with the landscape, Tina Lu has argued that nature was only the secondary topic of her work, with the primary focus being a "landscape of nostalgia" that Wang used to express her identity as a traveller.^[19]

Her poetry appears in the Zhong Xiang Ci, an anthology of late Ming-early Qing female poets.^[1]

Wang's shi poems were described by Qing dynasty commentators as comparable to those of Li Qingzhao and Zhu Shuzhen in their beauty and serenity.^[20][1]

^[21][22]

• Berg, Daria (2006). Reading China: Fiction, History and the Dynamics of Discourse. Essays in Honour of Professor Glen Dudbridge. BRILL. ISBN 9789047411468.
• Chang, Kang-i Sun; Saussy, Haun; Kwong, Charles Yim-tze (1999). Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804732314.
• Lee, Lily Xiao Hong; Wiles, Sue (2014). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Tang Through Ming, 618–1644. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 9780765643162.
• Lei Jin 雷瑾, ed. (1916). "王微" [Wang Wei]. 青樓詩話﹕二卷(雷瑨輯) [Poetry from the pleasure quarters: 2 volumes (edited by Lei Jin)] (in Chinese). Saoyeshan fang yinben 掃葉山房石印本.
• Lowry, Kathryn A. (2005). The Tapestry of Popular Songs in 16th- and 17th Century China: Reading, Imitation, And Desire. BRILL. ISBN 9789004145863.
• Lu, Tina (2011). "The literary culture of the late Ming (1573–1644)". In Kang-i Sun Chang; Stephen Owen (eds.). The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 63–151. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521855594. ISBN 9781139095426.
• Widmer, Ellen; Chang, Kang-i Sun, eds. (1997). Writing women in late imperial China. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press. pp. 61, 434n71. ISBN 978-0-8047-2871-3.
• Xu Naichang 徐乃昌, ed. (1909). "王微" [Wang Wei]. 閨秀詞鈔﹕十六卷(清徐乃昌輯) [Lyrics of well-bred young ladies: 16 volumes (edited by Xu Naichang in the Qing Dynasty)] (in Chinese). Xiao tanle shi keben 小檀欒室刻本. pp. 6.12a.
• Zhong Xing 鍾惺, ed. (1621–1644). "王微" [Wang Wei]. 名媛詩歸﹕三十六卷(鍾惺點次) [Collection of poems by ladies of note: 36 volumes (compiled by Zhong Xing)] (in Chinese).

• Wang Wei in the Ming Qing Women's Writings Database
• Collection of Wang Wei's poems online