CHANG HUI-YEN

(1761–11 JULY 1802)¹

Chang Hui-yen (Kao-wen), scholar, calligrapher, teacher, and poet, was a native of Wu-chin, Kiangsu province. Orphaned at the age of three, he was supported by his mother and an uncle in pursuing a classical education. He proved to be a child prodigy, and he began to teach at the age of thirteen. He received the chü-jen degree in 1786. The next year he became a tutor in a school for the nobility. Later, the death of his mother, which required his returning home to attend to her funeral arrangements, interrupted his career; and for a time he was associated with his fellow townsman Yün Ching (1757–1817), a master prose essayist. Together with Yün, Chang was known as a cofounder of the Yang-hu School of prose writing, rivaling the claims of the T’ung-ch’eng School under Yao Nai (q.v.), with a greater display of breadth of learning. Chang returned to Peking in 1799 to pass the chin-shih examination, and was later appointed as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy, after holding other minor posts. His life and career were cut short when he died of plague in 1802.

In addition to calligraphy, classical scholarship, and his reputation as a prose essayist, Chang is best known for his contributions to the study and composition of lyric poetry. Acclaimed for his archaic “seal” (chüan) style of calligraphy, Chang also wrote no less than twelve works of interpretation on the Yi-ching, exemplifying the approach taken by the Han dynasty scholars, in addition to other studies of the Yi-li (Decorum Ritual) and of the philosophical writings of Mo Tzu (fl. 479–438 B.C.). His most influential work, however, is the slim volume Tz’u-hsüan (Selected lyrics), printed in 1797, which he co-edited with his brother Chang Ch’i (1765–1833). A supplement to this anthology, known as the Hsü tz’u-hsüan, was issued in 1830, with a preface by Chang Ch’i. The lyrics in these compilations were so selected as to illustrate the doctrines Chang and his brother advocated for tz’u writing; hence, this school came to be known as the Ch’ang-chou school.

The Ch’ang-chou school of lyric poetry insisted that the tz’u should primarily embody a serious social purpose—an allegorical meaning beyond the surface meaning of words—while expressing delicate, sensitive, deeply felt, and honest emotions. Chang frequently talks about feng, sao, pi, and hsing, the purpose of which is clearly to elevate the status of tz’u writing; and one quality he advocated for lyric poetry above all others is han-hsü, which may be translated as “decorum” or “restraint.” Among the precursors of tz’u, for example, Chang had the greatest admiration for the T’ang poets Wen T’ing-yün (813?-870) and Wei Chuang (836–910); but he frequently errs by reading into some of their simple love lyrics a profound allegorical meaning. Despite this bias, however, many contemporary and later writers listened to his call for a more serious attitude toward lyric poetry as a result. His own reputation as a master of this form rests on a small collection entitled Ming-k’o tz’u, published in 1822. The best of his lyrics convey a lightness of touch and a certain freshness and delicacy, and they may well be cited to exemplify his critical theories.

(Michael Duke)

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1. Man-kuei Li, ECCP, 1:42–43.