Xin Qiji was a Chinese poet, calligrapher, and military general during the Southern Song dynasty.
23 Facts About Xin Qiji
2.
Xin Qiji was born in the modern city of Jinan in Shandong Province, then governed by the Jin Dynasty.
3.
Xin Qiji was raised by his grandfather because of Xin Qiji's father's early death.
4.
At the ages of 14 and 17, Xin Qiji attended the imperial examination twice, but failed both of them.
5.
Xin Qiji's grandfather named him after a legendary military commander from the Western Han, Huo Qubing.
6.
Xin Qiji started his military career at the age of twenty-two.
7.
Xin Qiji commanded an insurrection group of fifty men and fought the Jurchen alongside Geng Jing's much larger army that consisted of tens of thousands of men.
8.
Geng Jing agreed but just as Xin Qiji finished a meeting with the Southern Song Emperor, who endorsed Geng Jing's troops, Xin Qiji learned that Geng Jing had been assassinated by their former friend-turned-traitor, Zhang Anguo.
9.
Xin Qiji then led his men safely back across the border and had Zhang Anguo decapitated by the emperor.
10.
Xin Qiji's victory gained him a place in the Southern Song court.
11.
Xin Qiji improved the irrigation systems in his district, relocated poverty-struck peasants and trained his own troops.
12.
Xin Qiji left for Jiangxi where he then stayed and perfected his famous ci form of poetry for ten depressing years.
13.
In 1192, Xin Qiji was recalled to the Song court to take up another minor post because the previous incumbent had died.
14.
From 1192 to 1203, Xin Qiji lived in seclusion around Jiangxi Province.
15.
In 1188, Xin Qiji met another patriotic poet, Chen Liang, in E hu Temple.
16.
However, Xin Qiji attended the funeral and wrote lament for Zhu.
17.
Xin Qiji did not hesitate in responding to Han's call for help; unfortunately, he died of old age soon afterward.
18.
Some six hundred and twenty of Xin Qiji's poems survive today.
19.
Xin Qiji is famous for employing many allusions in his poems.
20.
The Chinese ethnologist and historian Bai Shouyi stated that Xin Qiji aimed his life at recovering the lost territories and contributing to his country.
21.
Unfortunately, Xin Qiji was ill-fated and repressed, and so failed to realize his ambitions.
22.
However, Xin Qiji never shook his patriotic resolve, and put all his enthusiasm and worries about national destiny to the creation of poetry.
23.
The Chinese historian Deng Guangming contends that although Xin Qiji was inherently an extremely passionate patriot, he was forced to pretend to be a detached and calm man, who is indifferent about political affairs.