Yang Wan (courtesan)

Yang Wan
Yang Wan
Native name	楊宛
Born	DOB unknown
Died	1644
Pen name	Yang Wanshu (楊宛叔)
Occupation	Gējì
Language	Chinese
Spouse	Mao Yuanyi

Yang Wan (?—1644; Chinese name: Yáng Wǎn 楊宛, courtesy name: Wǎnshū 宛叔), was one of the geji of the Qinhuai pleasure district in Nanjing during the waning years of the Ming dynasty.

Biography[edit]

Yang Wan’s family background and birth year are unknown. It was likely she began training as a geji (a registered female entertainer), from a very young age. Girls trained to be geji had been orphaned or sold by their families, who either couldn’t afford to raise them or wanted to give them the chance at upward mobility the profession enabled through the possibility of marriage or concubinage to the performer’s clients.^[1]

The geji of the pleasure district along the Qinhuai River were especially celebrated for their sophistication, refinement, and literary and artistic accomplishments.^[1]

Yang Wan developed a close bond with another geji, Wang Wei, who would become a highly regarded poet and travel writer. They called each other sworn sisters.^[2] Wang Wei’s poems to Yang Wan^[3] indicate they had a romantic relationship.

Wang Wei and Yang Wan became, respectively, the wife and concubine of the military official and scholar Mao Yuanyi [zh]. Mao Yuanyi had been an associate of Matteo Ricci, and wrote the military treatise Wubei Zhi, which included the Mao Kun map. Mao Yuanyi, who was also a poet, valued his wives’ artistic achievements and pursuits. Geji who got married were expected to quit their profession and observe the private lifestyles expected from respectable wives, but Yang Wan had an unusual arrangement with her husband to continue her professional pursuits. She had various lovers during their marriage, with her husband’s knowledge and tolerance.^[4]^[5]

Mao Yuanyi suffered a political fall and exile, which led him to excessive drinking. He died in 1640. Wang Wei remarried, and Yang Wan continued her profession. Four years later, she was forcibly taken, along with several other geji including Chen Yuanyuan, by an officer of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Tian Hongyu [zh], father of the imperial concubine Tian Xiuying. Tian Hongyu intended for them to serve in the household of the Chongzhen Emperor, but that plan didn’t come to fruition due to the emperor’s death during the peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng. In the upheaval, Yang Wan tried to escape the capital disguised as a beggar, but she was murdered by bandits.^[6]

Poetry[edit]

Despite her fame during her lifetime, in the early Qing Dynasty a backlash against women’s cultivation of artistic skills and the decadence associated with the geji profession^[1] caused Yang Wan and her work to be disparaged.^[7] Very few of her poems have survived.^[8]

夢

悠悠清夜月
寂寂眠闌干
惟有夢來去
不言行[...]難

Dreams

In the languid light of the night moon,
A quiet sleep closes the rim of the eyes.
Other than the dreams that come and go,
No word or motion […] troubles.

—Translated by Carolanna Lisonbee

^[9]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c Widmer, Ellen; Sun, Kangyi (1997). Writing women in late imperial China. Stanford (Calif.): Stanford university press. pp. 16–45. ISBN 978-0-8047-2872-0.
^ Lee, Lily Xiao Hong (2014). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Tang Through Ming, 618–1644. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 9780765643162.
^ "Details - Poet :: Ming Qing Women's Writings Digitization Project". digital.library.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
^ Widmer, Ellen; Sun, Kangyi (1997). Writing women in late imperial China. Stanford (Calif.): Stanford university press. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-8047-2872-0.
^ Chang, Kang-i Sun, ed. (1999). Women writers of traditional China: an anthology of poetry and criticism (Nachdr. ed.). Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-8047-3231-4.
^ "知乎专栏 - 随心写作，自由表达 - 知乎". zhuanlan.zhihu.com. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
^ Chang, Kang-i Sun, ed. (1999). Women writers of traditional China: an anthology of poetry and criticism (Nachdr. ed.). Stanford, Calif: Stanford Univ. Press. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-8047-3231-4.
^ "Details - Poet :: Ming Qing Women's Writings Digitization Project". digital.library.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
^ "Threads". www.threads.net. Retrieved 2024-03-29.

External links[edit]

Yang Wan's poems in the Ming Qing Women's Writings database (Chinese)
楊宛 at Baidu Baike (in Chinese)

[:0-1] Widmer, Ellen; Sun, Kangyi (1997). Writing women in late imperial China. Stanford (Calif.): Stanford university press. pp. 16–45. ISBN 978-0-8047-2872-0.

[2] Lee, Lily Xiao Hong (2014). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Tang Through Ming, 618–1644. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 9780765643162.

[3] "Details - Poet :: Ming Qing Women's Writings Digitization Project". digital.library.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2024-02-25.

[4] Widmer, Ellen; Sun, Kangyi (1997). Writing women in late imperial China. Stanford (Calif.): Stanford university press. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-8047-2872-0.

[5] Chang, Kang-i Sun, ed. (1999). Women writers of traditional China: an anthology of poetry and criticism (Nachdr. ed.). Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-8047-3231-4.

[6] "知乎专栏 - 随心写作，自由表达 - 知乎". zhuanlan.zhihu.com. Retrieved 2024-02-25.

[7] Chang, Kang-i Sun, ed. (1999). Women writers of traditional China: an anthology of poetry and criticism (Nachdr. ed.). Stanford, Calif: Stanford Univ. Press. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-8047-3231-4.

[8] "Details - Poet :: Ming Qing Women's Writings Digitization Project". digital.library.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2024-03-30.

[9] "Threads". www.threads.net. Retrieved 2024-03-29.

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Biography[edit]

Poetry[edit]

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