Wei Yuan

Wei Yuan was a prominent scholar-official who lived through the turbulent transition from the Ming to the Qing dynasty. He was well-versed in classical studies, poetry, calligraphy, and painting. He passed the imperial examination in 1610 and held various official positions in the Qing government. He was also a leader of the Donglin movement, a political faction that opposed the eunuch influence and corruption in the court. He was involved in several controversies and impeachments, and was exiled twice for his outspoken views. After the fall of the Ming in 1644, he briefly served as a Qing official, but later resigned and devoted himself to literary and historical projects. He compiled a massive anthology of Ming poetry, the Collected Poetry of the Successive Reigns, which included biographies of the poets and his own critical comments. He also wrote histories of the Ming dynasty and the Donglin movement, as well as collections of his own poems, essays, and letters. He was married to several women, some of whom were famous courtesans and accomplished poets themselves, such as Liu Rushi and Dong Xiaowan. He treated them as his intellectual equals and companions, and wrote many poems for them. He died in 1857 at the age of 62. He is regarded as one of the greatest poets and historians of the late Ming and early Qing periods.