View source for Yuan Mei

{{Short description|Chinese painter and poet (1716–1797)}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Yuan (surname)|Yuan]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{Infobox person
| image       = [[File:YuanMeiLuoPingI.jpg|150px]]
| caption     = Yuan Mei　Portrait by [[Luo Ping]]
| name        = Yuan Mei
| native_name = 袁枚
| native_name_lang= zh-hant
| birth_name  = 
| other_names = 
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1716|03|25}} 
| birth_place = [[Hangzhou]], [[Zhejiang]], China
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1798|1|3|1716|03|25}} 
| death_place = [[Nanjing]], [[Jiangsu]], China
| death_cause = 
|education=''[[jinshi]]'' degree
| alma_mater  = 
| occupation  = Painter, poet
| known_for   = 
| notable_works = ''Suiyuan shihua''<br>''[[Suiyuan Shidan]]''
| movement    = 
| spouse      = <!-- {{marriage||}} -->
| children    = 
| parents     = 
| relatives   = Yuan Ji (sister)
| awards      = <!--  {{Awards|award= |year= |title= }} -->
| signature   = 
| signature_size = 
| module  = {{Infobox Chinese|child=yes
|c = {{linktext|袁|枚}}
|p =  Yuán Méi
|w = 
|altname = Zicai
|c2 = {{linktext|子|才}}
|l2 = <!--N/A-->
|p2 = Zǐcaí
|altname3 = Jianzhai
|s3 = {{linktext|简|斋}}
|t3 = {{linktext|簡|齋}}
|l3 = <!--N/A-->
|p3 = Jiǎnzhaī
|altname4 = Cangshan Jushi
|s4 = {{linktext|仓|山|居士}}
|t4 = {{linktext|倉|山|居士}}
|l4 = Mount Cang [[Householder (Buddhism)|Householder]]
|p4 = Cāngshān Jūshì
|altname5 = Suiyuan Zhuren
|s5 = {{linktext|随|园|主人}}
|t5 = {{linktext|隨|園|主人}}
|l5 = Owner of Sui Garden
|p5 = Suíyuán Zhǔrén
|altname6 = Suiyuan Laoren
|s6 = {{linktext|随|园|老人}}
|t6 = {{linktext|隨|園|老人}}
|l6 = Old Man of Sui Garden 
|p6 = Suíyuán Lăorén
}}
}}
 
'''Yuan Mei''' ({{lang-zh|c=袁枚|p=Yuán Méi}}; 1716–1797) was a Chinese poet of the [[Qing dynasty]]. He was often mentioned with [[Ji Yun]] as the "Nan Yuan Bei Ji" ({{lang-zh|t=南袁北紀|l=Yuan of the south and Ji of the north|links=no|p=nányuán běijì}}).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://cn.apdnews.com/lifestyle/762592.html |script-title=zh:26岁官至正处级，33岁辞职做网红，这个清朝吃货不简单 |work=apdnews.com |date=2017-09-26 |language=zh}}</ref>

==Biography==
{{more citations needed section|date=February 2020}}

===Early life===
Yuan Mei was born in Qiantang ({{lang|zh-Hant|錢塘}}, in modern [[Hangzhou]]), [[Zhejiang]] province, to a cultured family who had never before attained high office. He achieved the degree of ''[[jinshi]]'' in 1739 at the young age of 23 and was immediately appointed to the [[Hanlin Academy]] ({{lang|zh-Hant|翰林院}}). Then, from 1742 to 1748, Yuan Mei served as a magistrate in four different locations in [[Jiangsu]]. However, in 1748, shortly after being assigned to administer part of [[Nanjing]], he resigned his post and returned to his hometown to pursue his literary interest.<ref name="Nienhauser">{{cite book|last=Nienhauser|first=William H.|title=The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1985|pages=956–957|isbn=978-0-253-32983-7}}</ref>

===Literary career===

In the decades before his death, Yuan Mei produced a large body of poetry, essays and paintings. His works reflected his interest in [[Chan Buddhism]] and the supernatural, at the expense of [[Daoism]] and institutional [[Buddhism]] - both of which he rejected. Yuan is most famous for his poetry, which has been described as possessing "unusually clear and elegant language". His views on poetry as expressed in the {{Lang|zh-Latn|Suíyuán Shīhuà}} ({{lang|zh-Hant|隨園詩話}}) stressed the importance of personal feeling and technical perfection. In his later years, Yuan Mei came to be called "Mister Suiyuan" ({{Lang-zh|t=隨園先生|p=suíyuán xiānsheng}}). Among his other collected works are treatises on passing the imperial examinations and on food.

Throughout his lifetime, Yuan Mei travelled extensively throughout southern China, visiting [[Huangshan]], [[Guilin]], [[Tiantai]], [[Wuyi Mountains|Wuyi]] and other famous mountains. On some of those visits, Yuan kept journal entries, representative of which is the ''You Guilin zhu shan't ji'' ("Record of tours of the mountains of Guilin"). He also accepted students. Since he admired women's poetry, he also took several female students and helped them publish their work under their own names.

=== Beliefs and women's literacy ===
Yuan was opposed to the strict moral and aesthetic norms of his day, and valued creativity and self-expression. He advocated for women's literacy. Yuan was both famed and criticized for his Sui Garden, where women would gather to compose and recite poetry. Two of Yuan's sisters enjoyed praise for their literary talent.<ref>{{Cite book|title=China: A Cultural and Historical Dictionary|publisher=Curzon Press|year=1998|isbn=0-7007-0439-6|editor-last=Dillon|editor-first=Michael|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/chinahistoricalc0000unse/page/374 374]|url=https://archive.org/details/chinahistoricalc0000unse/page/374}}</ref>

== Wonder tales ==
{{main|What the Master Would Not Discuss}}
His anthology of supernatural tales, the ''[[Zibuyu|Zi buyu]]'' ({{lang-zh|子不语|t=子不語 |labels=no}} [[literal translation|lit.]] "What the Master does not Speak of",{{sfnp|Thomé|2008}} a.k.a. "Censored by Confucius") was first published 1788, and later retitled ''Xin Qi xie'' ({{lang-zh|新齐谐|t=新齊諧|labels=no}}; "New wonder tales from Qi").<ref>{{harvp|Kam|Edwards trr.|1996|p=xxiii}} and note 1</ref> It contained some 747 tales,{{sfnp|Kam|Edwards trr.|1996|p=xxxiii}} followed by a sequel anthology.{{sfnp|Kam|Edwards trr.|1996|p=xxxiii}}<ref name="kam&edwards2016-intro">{{harvp|Kam|Edwards trr.|2016}} [1996], "Introduction", and notes 1–13</ref>

The work is classified under the ''[[Biji (Chinese literature)|biji]]'' fiction genre, but they are anecdotes collected over many years, purporting to be actual events recorded by the author.{{sfnp|Kam|Edwards trr.|1996|p=xxviii}}

== Gastronomic work ==
{{main|Suiyuan shidan}}
The food writer [[Fuchsia Dunlop]] has described Yuan as "China’s [[Brillat-Savarin]],"  <ref name="Dunlop">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/24/081124fa_fact_dunlop?currentPage=all|title=Garden of Contentment|last=Dunlop|first=Fuchsia|date=November 24, 2008|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=2009-08-04}}</ref> and [[Endymion Wilkinson]] called him one of the four classical [[gastronome]]s.<ref>Endymion Wilkinson, ''Chinese History: A Manual'' (Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press, Rev. and enl., 2000): 634. The other three are [[Su Shi]] (1037-1101), [[Ni Zan]] (1301-74), and [[Xu Wei]] (1521-93).</ref> In a time when the taste among his contemporaries was for opulence and exotic display, Yuan stood for the "orthodox" style. "Nowadays," he wrote, "at the start of the feast the menu is about a hundred feet long". This is "mere display, not gastronomy". After one such dinner Yuan returned home and cooked [[congee]] to appease his hunger. He instructed cooks "do not fuss with the natural state of the food just to show that you are a clever cook. Bird's nest is beautiful -- why shape it into balls?" Yuan criticized his contemporary [[Li Liweng]]'s magnolia pudding as "created by artifice". Yuan also resented what he regarded as the corruption of Chinese food by Manchu cooks. The appeal of Manchu cooking was in their stews and roasts, while Chinese cooked broths and soups, but when Manchus serve Chinese dinners and Chinese serve Manchu food, "we lose our originality" and we "toady to each other".<ref>Hsiang-Ju Lin and Tsuifeng Lin. ''Chinese Gastronomy''. New York: Hastings House,  1969), 44-45, 47.</ref>

Yuan published his recipes and thoughts on cooking in his 1792 gastronomic manual and cookbook [[The Way of Eating]].<ref>Portions translated in  Arthur Waley, ''Yuan Mei, Eighteenth Century Chinese Poet'' (London: Allen & Unwin, 1956):196 ff and Lin, ''Chinese Gastronomy'', 45-48.</ref><ref>[http://wayoftheeating.wordpress.com/ Translating the Suiyuan Shidan]</ref> A complete and annotated translation was published in 2019.{{sfnp|Chen tr.|2019}}

==Homosexual tendencies==
The poet is also known for his advocacy regarding male beauty, where he was in agreement with the opinion of Zheng Xie, who was an antagonist of his. An acquaintance of Yuan Mei reported the poet had "many male favorites" (in Chinese called nanchong (男寵) or waichong (外寵))".<ref>{{cite book |title=Homoeroticism in Imperial China: A Sourcebook |editor1=Mark Stevenson |editor2=Cuncun Wu |year=2013 |publisher=Routledge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aCElrXLgJukC&dq=Homoeroticism+in+imperial+China%3A+A+sourcebook+zheng+xie&pg=PA251 |page=251 |isbn=978-1-135-13175-3 }}</ref>

== Editions and translations ==
* Yuan Mei, Yingzhong Wang and Yingzhi Wang, eds. {{lang|zh-Hans|随园食单}} (Sui Yuan Shi Dan). Nanjing: Feng huang chubanshe, 2006. {{ISBN|978-7-80643-493-2}}.
;translations
* {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Chen tr.|2018}}|last=Yuan |first= Mei |author-link=Yuan Mei |author-mask=2 |translator1-last=Chen |translator1-first=Sean Jy-Shyang|translator1-link=<!--Sean Jy-Shyang Chen --> |others=Introduction by [[Nicole Mones]] |year=2018 |title=Recipes from the Garden of Contentment: Yuan Mei's Manual of Gastronomy |publisher = Berkshire| location = Great Barrington, MA |isbn = 9781614728528}}
* {{citation|last=Yuan |first=Mei |author-link=Yuan Mei |title=Yuan Mei's Garden of Accommodation |translator-last=Campbell |translator-first=Duncan  |translator-link=<!--Duncan Campbell (sinologist)--> |journal=China Heritage Annual |editor-last=Campbell |editor-first=Duncan |location=Wairarapa Valley, New Zealand |year=2017 |url= https://chinaheritage.net/annual/2017/in-history/qing/gardens-of-nothingness/yuan-meis-garden-of-accommodation/|ref = none}}
* {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Chen tr.|2019}}|last=Yuan |first= Mei |author-link=Yuan Mei |author-mask=2 |translator1-last=Chen |translator1-first=Sean Jy-Shyang|translator1-link=<!--Sean Jy-Shyang Chen --> |others=Introduction by [[Nicole Mones]] |year=2019 |title=The Way of Eating: Yuan Meí's Manual of Gastronomy |publisher = Berkshire| location = Great Barrington, MA |isbn = 9781614728276}}
* {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Kam|Edwards trr.|1996}}|last=Yüan |first=Mei |author-link=Yuan Mei |translator1-last=Kam |translator1-first=Louie |translator1-link=<!--Louie Kam-->|translator2-last =Edwards |translator2-first=Louise P. |translator2-link=Louise Edwards (historian) |title=Censored by Confucius: Ghost Stories by Yuan Mei |location=Armonk, NY |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |date=1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YSpN8dP99J8C&q=Yuan+Mei+zibuyu&pg=PR18 |isbn=1563246805<!--, 9781563246807-->}}
** {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Kam|Edwards trr.|2016}} |last=Yuan |first=Mei |author-link=Yuan Mei |author-mask=2 |translator1-last=Kam |translator1-first=Louie |translator1-link=<!--Louie Kam--> |translator2-last=Edwards |translator2-first=Louise P. |translator2-link=Louise Edwards (historian) |title=Censored by Confucius: Ghost Stories by Yuan Mei |location= |publisher=Routledge |date=2016 |orig-date=1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zYYYDQAAQBAJ |isbn=1315285711<!--, 9781315285719-->}}
* {{citation|last=Yuan |first=Mei |author-link=Yuan Mei |translator-last=Schmidt |translator-first=J. D. |translator-link=<!--J. D. Schmidt--> |title=Harmony Garden: The Life, Criticism, and Poetry of Yuan Mei |location= |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |url= |isbn=1138863416<!--, 9781138863415--> |ref=none}}
* {{citation|last=Yuan |first=Mei |author-link=Yuan Mei |author-mask=2 |translator-last=Seaton |translator-first=J.P. |translator-link=<!--J.P. Seaton--> |title=I Don't Bow to Buddhas: Selected Poems of Yuan Mei |location= Port Townsend |publisher=Copper Canyon Press |year=1997 |url= |isbn=1-55659-120-9 |ref=none}}

==Further reading==
* Arthur Waley. ''Yuan Mei, Eighteenth Century Chinese Poet''. London: Allen & Unwin,  1956
* {{cite ECCP|title=Yüan Mei|ref=none}}

== References ==
;Citations
{{Reflist}}

;Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite thesis|type=M.A. |last=Thomé |first=Jennifer |author-link=<!-- Jennifer Thome --> |title=Jenny Hanivers, Dragons and Basilisks in the Old Natural History Books and in Modern Times |publisher=Arizona State University |date=2008 |url=https://nanopdf.com/download/strange-overtones-the-expressions-of-resentment_pdf |page=}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=31179}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Yuan Mei |birth=1716 |death=1797}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050505062604/http://cls.hs.yzu.edu.tw/CEat/recipe/all_text.asp 随园食单 (Sui Yuan Shi Dan) Chinese text]
* [http://wayoftheeating.wordpress.com/ Suiyuan Shidan (隨園食單) English translation]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuan, Mei}}
[[Category:1716 births]]
[[Category:1797 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century Chinese painters]]
[[Category:18th-century Chinese poets]]
[[Category:18th-century Chinese LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:Chinese cuisine]]
[[Category:Chinese LGBTQ poets]]
[[Category:Chinese LGBTQ painters]]
[[Category:Poets from Zhejiang]]
[[Category:Qing dynasty poets]]
[[Category:Painters from Zhejiang]]
[[Category:Writers from Hangzhou]]