Hu Zhiyu
Encyclopedia
Hu Zhiyu also known as Purple Mountain Hu , was a period writer of Chinese Sanqu poetry
during the Yuan Dynasty
. He was from Hebei
and orphaned early in life. Nonetheless he applied himself to his studies and associated with others of exceptional ability. In the 1260s he rose to the high official position of Erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. However he earned the enmity of a Muslim
high minister of finance Ahmad Fanakati
(?-1282). Hu was then obliged to fill lesser official positions. Others wrote of him that officials feared him while ordinary people loved him. His writings were largely poetry. He was much influenced by Song poetry with its directness and lack or ornament. His sanqu (散曲) verses were highly literate, a characteristic of the time. He was likewise gifted at a variety of literary forms, as well as a skilled calligrapher.
(Shuangdiao: Chenzui tongfeng)
For the Actress Zhu Lianxiu
By the river stitched in colors,
Kingfisher-green bamboos.
Above the wool-dressed sea
There is a bright pearl.
When the moon is pale,
Where the wind is pure,
The dust from fallen crimson is shut away.
A bit of careless ease
Bears the strains of life,
My constant thinking
Of love’s morning clouds and evening rains.
Chinese Sanqu poetry
Chinese Sanqu poetry refers to a fixed-rhythm form of Classical Chinese poetry, or "literary song", specifically sanqu is a subtype of the qu formal type of poetry. Sanqu was a notable Chinese poetic form, possibly beginning in the Jin Dynasty ; but, especially associated with the Yuan , Ming ,...
during the Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
. He was from Hebei
Hebei
' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...
and orphaned early in life. Nonetheless he applied himself to his studies and associated with others of exceptional ability. In the 1260s he rose to the high official position of Erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. However he earned the enmity of a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
high minister of finance Ahmad Fanakati
Ahmad Fanakati
Ahmad Fanākatī was a Muslim financial minister of Kublai Khan's Yuan Dynasty.-History:He came from Fanakat , a town on the upper Syr Darya in Central Asia. Trusted by Chabui Khatun, Kublai's favorite wife, he was entrusted with state finances in 1262...
(?-1282). Hu was then obliged to fill lesser official positions. Others wrote of him that officials feared him while ordinary people loved him. His writings were largely poetry. He was much influenced by Song poetry with its directness and lack or ornament. His sanqu (散曲) verses were highly literate, a characteristic of the time. He was likewise gifted at a variety of literary forms, as well as a skilled calligrapher.
(Shuangdiao: Chenzui tongfeng)
For the Actress Zhu Lianxiu
By the river stitched in colors,
Kingfisher-green bamboos.
Above the wool-dressed sea
There is a bright pearl.
When the moon is pale,
Where the wind is pure,
The dust from fallen crimson is shut away.
A bit of careless ease
Bears the strains of life,
My constant thinking
Of love’s morning clouds and evening rains.