Yuan Mei

Yuan Mei (1716–1798), courtesy name Zicai and pseudonym Jianzhai, was a native of Qiantang, Zhejiang, and a Qing-dynasty poet, essayist, literary critic, and gastronome. A jinshi of 1739, he served as a county magistrate in Jiangning and elsewhere before retiring in midlife to Suiyuan in Nanjing. He championed the "xingling" theory of poetry, which stresses genuine feeling and individual expression, and was known together with Zhao Yi and Jiang Shiquan as one of the "Three Masters of the Qianjia Era." His works range widely: Suiyuan shihua comments on poetry, Suiyuan shidan records the art of cooking and eating, and Zi buyu collects tales of the strange. His writing is fresh and natural, and Suiyuan shidan combines practical guidance with literary value. This library holds 46 of his works, spanning poetry criticism, food writing, prose miscellanies, and classical literature.