Bao Zhao

In this Chinese name, the family name is Bao.

Bao Zhao (Chinese: 鮑照; c. 414 – September 466) was a Chinese poet, writer, and official known for his shi poetry, fu rhapsodies, and parallel prose who lived during the Liu Song dynasty (420–479). Bao's best known surviving work is his "Fu on the Ruined City" (Wú chéng fù 蕪城賦), a long fu rhapsody on the ruined city of Guangling (now Yangzhou).

Bao Zhao
鮑照
Bao Zhao, painted by Kanō Tsunenobu in the 18th century.
Born	c. 414 Lanling County, Shandong, China
Died	September 466 (aged c. 52) China
Occupation(s)	Poet, politician
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	鮑照
Simplified Chinese	鲍照
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Bào Zhào Wade–Giles Pao4 Chao4 IPA [pâʊ ʈʂâʊ] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Baauh Jiu Jyutping Baau6 Ziu3 IPA [paw˨ tsiw˧] Southern Min Tâi-lô Pāu Tsiàu Middle Chinese Middle Chinese pæ̀w tʃjèw
Courtesy name
Traditional Chinese	明遠
Simplified Chinese	明远
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Míngyuǎn

Life and career

Bao Zhao, courtesy name Mingyuan (明遠), was born around the year AD 414. He was probably born in the town of Jingkou (modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province), though some sources say he was born in Shangdang (modern Zhangzi County, Shanxi Province) or Xuzhou (modern Tancheng County, Shandong Province). Bao's younger sister Bao Linghui was also a poet, and seven of her poems have survived.

Little is known of Bao's early life. He was born into a scholar-class family whose fortunes had declined. He was probably a farmer as a young man before beginning his career as an official on the staffs of local princes of the Liu Song dynasty. Beginning in about 438, Bao served as an attendant gentleman (shìláng 侍郎) to Liu Yiqing (劉義慶), the prince of Linchuan. In the early 440s, Liu served as governor of Jiangzhou (roughly corresponding to modern Jiangxi and Fujian Provinces), and Bao writes that he traveled around the area of modern Jiujiang, writing poems on the mountain scenery around Mount Lu.

After Liu Yiqing's death in 444, Bao briefly returned home to Jingkou. Then, in 445, he joined the staff of Liu Jun (劉駿; 436–463), another Liu Song prince, who was serving as governor of Yangzhou (modern Nanjing). Bao spent several years in Liu Jun's service and accompanied him on his campaign to retaliate against the Xianbei-ruled Northern Wei dynasty, which had invaded southern China in January 451. Bao left Liu Jun's staff about 452, spending the next 12 years serving in various local governmental positions, as well as a stint in the imperial capital Jiankang (modern Nanjing) as a professor at the Imperial Academy.

In 464, Bao joined the staff of the seven-year-old prince Liu Zixu (劉子頊; 457–466), who nominally served as governor of Jingzhou. In early 466, another Liu Song prince rebelled and declared himself Emperor, and Liu Zixu soon joined the rebellion, probably encouraged by his adult advisors. The rebellion was put down in the following months, and in September 466 imperial forces retook Jingzhou. Because the rebellion was organized by the prince's aides and administrators, and not the young prince himself, Bao was unable to escape punishment for his involvement. The nine-year-old Liu Zixu was forced to commit suicide, and all of his staff members, including the approximately 52-year-old Bao, were executed.

Works

About 200 of Bao Zhao's poems survive. His works were initially gathered into a collection several decades after his death, but this collection seems to have been lost during the Tang dynasty (618–907). Eleven of Bao's poems are preserved in the early medieval anthology Selections of Refined Literature (Wen xuan 文選).

Bao's most famous piece is his "Fu on the Ruined City" (Wú chéng fù 蕪城賦), a moving fu rhapsody on the former capital, Guangling, which had been razed to the ground in the Northern Wei invasion of January 451. It gives an account of the ruined capital, contrasted with its former grandiosity, in a nostalgic and longing fashion that is common in Liu Song-era poetry. Another of Bao's surviving fu rhapsodies is "Fu on the Dancing Cranes" (Wǔ hè fù 舞鶴賦), which describes a troupe of trained performing cranes.

Bao also composed shi poetry, and is best known for his use of the yuefu lyrical song genre. Bao is the first Chinese poet known to have composed shi poetry in the seven-syllable line format where, instead of the traditional AAAA rhyme scheme in which each line in a stanza rhymed, a more mixed rhyme scheme of ABCB was used.

References

Works cited

• Chang, Kang-i Sun; Saussy, Haun; Kwong, Charles Yim-tze (1999). Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-3231-4.
• Knechtges, David R. (1987). Wen Xuan, or Selections of Refined Literature, Volume Two: Rhapsodies on Sacrifices, Hunting, Travel, Sightseeing, Palaces and Halls, Rivers and Seas. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 957-9482-37-3.
• Knechtges, David R. (2010). "Bao Zhao 鮑照". In Knechtges, David R.; Chang, Taiping (eds.). Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide, Part One. Leiden: Brill. pp. 25–34. ISBN 978-90-04-19127-3.
• Su, Jui-lung (2015). "Bao Zhao Ji 鮑照集". In Chennault, Cynthia L.; Knapp, Keith N.; Berkowitz, Alan J.; Dien, Albert E. (eds.). Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Bibliographical Guide. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley. pp. 1–5. ISBN 978-1-55729-109-7.
• Tian, Xiaofei (2010). "From the Eastern Jin through the early Tang (317–649)". In Owen, Stephen (ed.). The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Volume 1: To 1375. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 199–285. ISBN 978-0-521-11677-0.