10 Facts About Chen Zilong

Chen Zilong was a Chinese poet, essayist and official active during the late Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty.

In 1630, while in Beijing, Chen was introduced to an elderly Xu Guangqi, who shared that he had been working on an agricultural treatise.

Four years later, Chen Zilong presented his "worked-over" version of Xu's manuscript to Nanjing governor Zhang Guowei and Songjiang prefect Fang Yuegong, both of whom pledged to assist with the book's publication once Chen Zilong was done editing it.

Chen Zilong titled the completed work Nong zhen quan shu, a "faithful mirror" of Xu's goal of improving the country's agricultural infrastructure, and it was presented to the Chongzhen Emperor in 1641.

Chen Zilong was an accomplished poet known for exchanging verses with his "partner in poetry", the courtesan Liu Rushi.

Chen Zilong was popularly regarded by his contemporaries as one of the "Three Men of Yun Jian", alongside fellow Songjiang poets Li Wen and Song Zhengyu.

Whereas his peers like Qian Qianyi and Ai Nanying preferred what they considered a "bold and straightforward" style, Chen Zilong argued that the "archaic and abstruse forms of the medieval period" were superior.

Chen Zilong was a member of the reformist Restoration Society and "consciously modeled" himself after the Song dynasty loyalist poet Wen Tianxiang.

Chen Zilong was influenced by the scholar Liu Zongzhou, whom he believed could compel the Nanjing government into better defending the country from the Manchu invaders.

However, Chen Zilong was captured by the Qing military commander Chen Jin, and the Ming dynasty fell.