陈衍

Chen Yan was a modern-era poet and critic of poetry; reliable public information about his life and native place is limited. His writings center on poetics and the compilation of source materials. His Shiyishi Shihua and its sequel discuss poets and poems of successive dynasties with discerning judgment and rank among the important shihua of the modern era. Songshi Jinghua Lu, an anthology of Song poetry with commentary, is noted for its rigorous selection and has circulated widely, while Yuanshi Jishi gathers anecdotal and documentary material on Yuan poetry and is valuable both as a source collection and for textual research. He also took part in compiling historical and geographical works such as Taiwan Tongji and Fujian Tongzhi Lixuan Xuan. His works fall under classical poetry, literary appreciation, Eastern philosophy, and social science, and the collection also includes vocational education competitiveness reports and examination-related titles, showing a range of subjects across literature and the social sciences.